GRANVILLE — Randy Mazey and West Virginia realized their worst nightmare Saturday in the form of some true power hitting and dominant pitching by Texas.
The 20th-ranked Longhorns swept a doubleheader at Mon County Ballpark, 5-2 and 11-0, and did it in convincing fashion.
Texas (34-16, 11-9 Big 12) hit a combined seven home runs — including three from first baseman Ivan Melendez, the nation’s leading home run hitter — and then combined to pitch 15 scoreless innings over the two wins.
The second game ended after seven innings due to the mercy rule.
The Mountaineers (27-18, 9-8) had no pop, little energy and certainly got little mercy from the Longhorns, who finished with 13 extra-base hits over the two games.
“For those who talked about Texas struggling before this series started, got any more questions?” Mazey said.
The Longhorns were swept by Oklahoma State last weekend and were at .500 in conference play before arriving in Morgantown.
That changed quickly, and Texas was back to being one of the top teams in the country again. The Longhorns’ evening was finished off nicely by sophomore lefty Gordon Lucas, who faced just one batter over the minimum in the second game.
He picked up his fifth win of the season, while allowing just two hits over seven innings. He walked none and struck out five.
In all, Texas outhit the Mountaineers 22-8 with every Longhorns’ starter recording at least a base hit in the second game.
That was Texas’ strength coming into the series, having led the Big 12 in home runs, team batting average and hits.
After seeing it live for the first time this season, nothing changed from Mazey’s point of view.
“We knew exactly how good they were,” he said.
Melendez proved to be the real deal. The Big 12’s Triple Crown candidate is now batting .425 with 25 home runs and 74 RBIs. He finished a combined 4 for 8 with six runs driven in.
The first game saw Texas lefty Pete Hansen prove why he’s one of the top starters in the Big 12, as he hurled nearly eight perfect innings and was one out shy of earning his second complete game of the season.
Hansen, who did earn his Big 12-leading eighth win of the season, threw 122 pitches — 83 for strikes — gave up six hits and two runs and walked just one while striking out eight.
He was relieved for with two outs in the ninth after McGwire Holbrook doubled.
Tristan Stevens came in and earned the save. After walking Braden Barry, he got Eric Dowdell to fly out to right field to end the game.
Melendez had a hand in that game, too. After striking out his first two trips to the plate, he hit his 23rd home run of the season — a solo blast down the left field line that easily cleared the stadium and landed on University Town Centre Drive — before hitting a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning that scored Trey Faltine to give the Longhorns a 4-0 lead.
If Hansen’s performance was dominating, then West Virginia starter Jacob Watters may have taken the toughest hard-luck loss of his career.
Watters struck out a career-high 15 over 6 1/3 innings. He allowed seven hits and walked just one, before leaving to a standing ovation from the crowd, but ultimately took his fifth loss of the season.
WVU pitchers struck out 17 of the 39 Longhorns they faced in the first game, but Murphy Stehly also hit a solo home run to go along with Melendez’s shot and the Mountaineers only breached the scoreboard in the seventh inning when Dayne Leonard hit a two-run homer.
The final game of the series is scheduled for 1 p.m. today with West Virginia needing a win just to stay above .500 in Big 12 play.
“You’ve just got to challenge their pride, their competitiveness,” Mazey said. “Their backs are against the wall again and we’ll see how they come out. It’s just a pride thing at this point.”
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