PROVO, Utah – The West Virginia University baseball team put up a season-high 20 runs against BYU on Friday, defeating the Cougars, 20-6, at Miller Park. The Mountaineers improve to 21-4 and 3-3 in the Big 12 while BYU falls to 14-10 and 4-4 in conference play.
 
The Mountaineers pounded out 19 hits on the night, led by three each from the eight and nine hitters, sophomores Armani Guzman and Spencer Barnett. Barnett drove in four runs while Guzman and freshman Gavin Kelly each had three RB. Junior Skylar King added a home run, his second of the season.
 
On the mound, junior Gavin Van Kempen threw 4.2 innings and struck out four while allowing two runs. Sophomore Chase Meyer picked up his fifth win of the season with 2.1 perfect innings while striking out four.
 
West Virginia took the lead on a Guzman RBI single in the second. After BYU tied it up in the home half, King put the Mountaineers back on top with a solo home run in the third. Kelly tacked on another run later in the inning with a single.
 
Barnett had a two-run single in the fifth before belting a two-run triple in the seventh. Senior Brodie Kresser, senior Jace Rinehart, and Kelly added RBI singles to round out a seven-run seventh inning.
 
The Mountaineers followed the big seventh with an eight-run eighth inning, getting RBIs from junior Ellis Garcia, senior Kyle West, freshman Jorge Valdes, and senior Grant Hussey, before back-to-back two-run doubles by redshirt freshman Alex Marot and Guzman.
 
West Virginia will look to take the series on Saturday. Because of possible inclement weather, first pitch for game three has been moved up to 2 p.m. ET.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.