GRANVILLE — Bryce Madron and Dakota Harris hit two-run home runs Saturday and No. 12 West Virginia saw its 10-game winning streak end with a 6-3 loss against Oklahoma inside Mon County Ballpark, which set a single-game attendance record of 4,387 fans.
The largest crowd witnessed possibly the bummer of the season for the Mountaineers (35-12, 12-5 Big 12), as Oklahoma pitchers Braden Carmichael and Will Carsten kept WVU’s offense off balance just enough.
Carmichael, “Did what he was supposed to do,” WVU manager Randy Mazey said. “You’re supposed to throw your fastball on both sides of the plate and throw your breaking ball for strikes. It was one of the best-pitched games against us all year.”
Carmichael and Carsten combined to walk just one and scattered nine hits with Carmichael (5-0) earning the win and Carsten earning his third save.
The attendance record beat the mark of 4,355 set back in 2019, when WVU hosted an NCAA regional game against Fordham.
In the six games at Mon County Ballpark played during the winning streak, the average attendance has been 3,404. The park sits 2,500 plus standing-room only attendees.
It was West Virginia’s first loss since April 16 against Oklahoma State. In between the two setbacks, WVU managed to secure the top spot in the Big 12 and its highest national ranking in program history.
The streak is now over, although the Mountaineers maintain their lead in the Big 12 and can still win the series against the Sooners (26-21, 10-10) with a win in Game 3 that begins at 11 a.m. Sunday.
As for Saturday, the outcome may have come down to a matter of feet, if not inches.
Madron hit his two-run home run in the first inning to give Oklahoma a 2-0 lead. Harris’ two-run shot to right field came in the sixth that gave O.U. a 4-1 lead.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers sent nine well-hit balls to left field and center that were caught.
In the ninth, with Ellis Garcia on first base, Tevin Tucker sent a shot to center that sent Oklahoma’s John Spikerman all the way to the wall, but he made the catch with literally no room to spare.
“The difference was they hit two balls that landed on the other side of the fence,” Mazey said. “We hit nine balls that landed just on this side of the fence. If the wind is blowing out today, we probably win that game pretty handedly. I thought we smashed some balls that just didn’t carry to the other side of the fence.”
West Virginia’s best shot at pulling it out came in the sixth inning. Trailing 4-1, J.J. Wetherholt led off with a double and Landon Wallace followed him with a single.
Braden Berry hit a deep shot to center that ended up as a sacrifice fly that scored Wetherholt and also moved Wallace to second.
Dayne Leonard singled home Wallace to cut the Sooners’ lead to 4-3. After Grant Hussey was hit by a pitch, Caleb McNeely and Garcia both flew out to end the inning.
The Mountaineers never got more than one runner on over the final three innings.
Wetherholt doubled again in the seventh for his 26th multi-hit game of the season, but was stranded there.
Blaine Traxel (6-4) took the loss, but was solid over seven innings, allowing five runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out three.
The key now, Mazey said, is not to have this loss turn into something worse.
“We’ve got to be careful. You know how it goes after a streak, the first time you lose, they can pile up on you,” Mazey said. “You have a letdown, because the streak is over and then you lose two in a row. We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
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