OKLAHOMA CITY — The eighth-seeded West Virginia baseball team took down No. 9-seed Kansas 8-7 on Tuesday night at the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City.
Sophomore outfielder Victor Scott drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to help the Mountaineers win the single-elimination contest and advance in the tournament. WVU finished with eight runs on 14 hits with two errors in the back-and-forth affair, while the Jayhawks tallied seven runs on 14 hits with one error.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Jacob Watters earned the victory, his fourth of the year. KU’s Daniel Hegarty took the loss. West Virginia used a pair of comebacks in the win, erasing an early, five-run deficit, as well as overcoming a one-run hole in the eighth inning.
“On the scale of walk-off excitement, a walk is one of the lowest, but it doesn’t change the fact that this was a really good win for us,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “Victor Scott’s at-bat there was just a culmination of all of our at-bats over the course of the whole night. Our hitters stood in there pretty well against Kansas’ best arms. That was a really good night for us offensively.”
Kansas (30-27) opened the game with a run in the first and four in the second, chasing WVU’s starter, freshman right-handed pitcher Carlson Reed, out of the game after just 1.1 innings of work. Trailing, 5-0, redshirt sophomore outfielder Alec Burns put the Mountaineers on the board with a solo homer in the bottom of the second, cutting the deficit to four.
Then, WVU (24-25) tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the fourth. After a pair of two-out, RBI singles by senior infielder Tyler Doanes and junior Austin Davis, sophomore catcher Matt McCormick smacked a two-run triple off the wall in right field to level the score at 5.
The Mountaineers took their first lead of the night in the bottom of the fifth after freshman designated hitter Nathan Blasick hit a leadoff triple and scored on an RBI groundout off the bat of fifth-year senior outfielder Hudson Byorick. WVU led it, 6-5, after five innings.
Meanwhile, freshman left-handed pitcher Ben Hampton provided stability out of the bullpen following Reed’s exit. The De Pere, Wisconsin, native threw zeros on the board in the Jayhawk third, fourth and fifth, before KU got to him in the sixth to retake the lead.
Kansas scored a pair in the frame to take a 7-6 advantage. Hampton’s final line showed two runs allowed on seven hits with four strikeouts and two walks in five innings of relief.
It stayed a one-run contest until the bottom of the eighth when fifth-year senior infielder Kevin Brophy doubled down the left-field line, scoring freshman outfielder Braden Barry with help from a KU throwing error to tie the game at 6-6. From there, Watters sent the Jayhawks down 1-2-3 in the top of the ninth, before Scott’s walk ended it for WVU.
Watters didn’t allow a hit and struck out five in 1.2 innings of action. Additionally, redshirt sophomore right-hander Noah Short pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen in the win.
All nine starters tallied at least one hit for West Virginia in the win, while five enjoyed multi-hit efforts. McCormick led the way with two RBI to go along with his 2 for 5 night at the plate.
Next up, the Mountaineers are set to take on No. 1-seed Texas to begin double-elimination play Wednesday. First pitch at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark is set for 5 p.m.
