West Virginia blasts three home runs, win Big 12 opener over Oklahoma State

After fires and weather in the Stillwater area, the first two games of the series between West Virginia and Oklahoma State were canceled, the two teams were able to play game three on Sunday from O’Brate Stadium.

West Virginia hit three home runs on the day, the biggest being a go-ahead two-run blast from Jace Rinehart in the seventh inning, as the Mountaineers beat Oklahoma State, 8-6, securing a win in their Big 12 opener, and the only game of the series.

The Mountaineers got on the board in the second inning, using the long ball to their advantage. Gavin Kelly hit a home run, the first of his career, a solo blast to dead center, giving WVU a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Chase Swain walked, and then three batters later, Kyle West hit a no-doubt two-run home run, as the Mountaineers led 3-0.

West Virginia went with normal game one starter Griffin Kirn, who grabbed two strikeouts in the first inning. He struck out three more in the second, but the Cowboys got on the board on a home run that scraped over the right field wall out of the reach of Jace Rinehart, as the score was 3-1.

Kirn had eight strikeouts through three innings, but the Cowboys began to figure Kirn out from there. Kirn got the first out of the fourth inning on a fly out, but the hard contact continued. Colin Brueggemann doubled off the wall before Ian Daughtery hit a two-run home run to tie the game at 3-3. The damage was not done, as Kollin Ritchie hit his second home run of the day, to give OSU a 4-3 lead.

Kirn’s day ended with him tossing 3.1 innings, surrendering four runs on six hits, striking out eight, while he threw 66 total pitches.

Following Kirn was the penciled in game two starter Gavin Van Kempen, who, after a strikeout, walked three batters in a row to load the bases with two outs. Bryant Yoak then came in and got a strikeout to get out of the jam and end the inning.

WVU tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth, as they stayed patient at the plate, scoring on a bases loaded walk to Sam White, before a double play ended the inning prematurely for the Mountaineers.

The game would teeter back and forth the next two innings as each team answered the other.

Oklahoma State retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Yoak gave up a single and a walk, before getting pulled for Carson Estridge. Estridge walked one and then Oklahoma State grabbed the go-ahead run on an RBI bunt as they led 5-4. WVU answered right back, as Kelly singled, and then Skylar King walked.

West then hit a towering fly ball into center field that OSU center fielder Brayden Smith lost the ball in the sun, as it dropped, allowing Kelly, before King was thrown out trying to score, as the score remained 5-5. In the bottom of the inning, Smith came right back and redeemed himself with a home run to right field, as the Cowboys retook the lead at 6-5.

West Virginia then tied the game once again in the top of the seventh, as Brodie Kresser reached on an infield single, before he scored on a sac-fly from White, his second RBI of the day. Rinehart then took a 1-2 pitch, 371-feet to the opposite field, his third blast of the year that put West Virginia in front 8-6.

Chase Meyer, who came into the game to relieve Estridge, stayed in the game in the seventh. He got a strikeout to start the inning, before he issued a walk as Ritchie walked to the plate with an opportunity to tie the game. Meyer struck him out on three pitches, before getting another strikeout as he struck out the side to end the inning. Meyer did the same thing in the eighth, striking out the side on 16 pitches as the game headed to the ninth.

Meyer finished out the ninth, and with that, the best outing of his young career. Meyer finished the game tossing 3.2 innings, striking out nine, while. giving up no runs and no hits. West Virginia pitching gave up one run and one hit over the final four innings, with Meyer accounting for 15 of the 16 outs. As a staff, WVU struck out 19 Cowboys on the day.

West Virginia's offense totaled 12 hits on the afternoon, with seven of them coming in the 5th-7th innings, as WVU scored five runs in those three innings.

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