MORGANTOWN — On a cold, wet and rainy night inside Kendrick Family Ballpark, the baseball gods decided to give one back to West Virginia.
The Mountaineers, fresh off a surprising and rather disappointing walk-off loss against intrastate rival Marshall, were literally handed a gift Friday night in a 7-6 victory against No. 17 UCF.
So many pieces had to be strung together to make it happen, most noticeably the hitting of outfielder Kyle West, who was a double shy of going for the cycle while driving in four runs, which complemented the performance of WVU’s bullpen.
In the end, though, it was a bloop to first base — one that should have easily been caught, but wasn’t — that handed the Mountaineers their third victory of the season against a top 25-ranked opponent.
WVU (20-13, 9-4 Big 12) remains tied with Oklahoma at the top of the conference standings with the win, which became official at 11:18 p.m. following a 90-minute rain delay at the start of the game.
The Knights (21-10, 8-8) have now lost two in a row.
The story of this one begins in the bottom of the seventh inning, after UCF had taken a 6-4 lead behind the bat of freshman outfielder Andrew Williamson. His two base hits drove in three runs and Lex Boedicker also added three hits.
Logan Sauve and Sam White both walked to begin the seventh, which was followed by a strikeout. That brought West to the plate, and the University of Charleston transfer hit an absolute rope to deep center that got over the head of Williamson. The ball then nestled in under the outfield fence, rather than bouncing off it, giving West enough time to easily slide into third base with a triple that tied the game.
“I just knew that I hit it hard,” West said. “I was hoping and praying that it would get down and it did.”
After Grant Hussey struck out, Brodie Kresser gave WVU the lead for good, but it was not a swing the WVU shortstop will brag about. Instead, it was a bloop off the end of the bat that forced Boedicker to take a couple of steps back at first base.
The wind may have played a role, as Boedicker turned his body around at the last second as he reached into the air. The ball seemed to have gone right into his glove only to then bounce right out of it, as West easily scored the go-ahead run.
“Was it windy tonight, raining?” WVU head coach Randy Mazey joked. “Yeah, it was tough conditions. I didn’t think it was this windy in the dugout. Being down by three in the middle of the game against a team in the top 20, and coming back to win the game, it was really good.”
The win was sealed by David Hagaman’s powerful right arm. He earned his second save of the season by throwing a scoreless eighth and ninth inning. He allowed just one hit and struck out five of the six batters he faced.
“I felt pretty good,” Hagaman said. “I was pretty confident going into today.”
The Mountaineers’ confidence could have easily been shaken following a 3-2 loss against Marshall on Wednesday in 11 innings, WVU’s first loss against the Thundering Herd since 2021, but they came out and took an early 2-0 lead in the second inning behind Aaron Jamison’s RBI single and then Kresser stole home on a double steal with Jamison.
UCF came back to score three runs in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead that forced Mazey to go to his bullpen. Carson Estridge picked up his first win of the season by going 2 2/3 innings. He allowed five hits, but just one run. Combined with Aidan Major’s eight strikeouts, WVU pitcher combined for 15 in the game.
West added a two-run home run down the left field line in the fifth that got WVU within one run, 5-4. UCF made it 6-4 in the top of the seventh with Williamson’s RBI single.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. WVU is scheduled to start Derek Clark, who has pitched nine innings in each of his last three starts.
