MORGANTOWN — Brodie Kresser and Sam White homered and combined for seven RBIs Sunday to lead No. 24 West Virginia to 14-7 victory and a series win against Kennesaw State inside Kendrick Family Ballpark.
The Mountaineers (14-1) rebounded after losing to the Owls in the ninth inning on Saturday – WVU’s first loss of the season – with 15 hits, including eight for extra bases.
Kresser went 3 for 5 and drove in four runs. He had an RBI single in the fifth inning that gave WVU a 10-4 lead and then added a three-run homer in the eighth inning.
White went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs to extend his hitting streak to 12 games for the Mountaineers, who will host Towson at 2 p.m. Tuesday before traveling to Oklahoma State on Friday to begin Big 12 play.
Relief pitcher Tyler Hutson picked up his first win of the season in relief of starter David Hagen. Hutson pitched three innings and allowed three hits, one run and struck out five.
Freshman Gavin Kelly tripled and scored three times for WVU and outfielder Skylar King also had a hit to raise his team-leading batting average to .422 on the season. Logan Sauve also had two doubles for the Mountaineers, which hit .438 in the game with two outs.
WVU took two of three against Kennesaw State to secure its fourth series win of the season.
Saturday’s game
Kennesaw State 13, WVU 9
West Virginia’s 13-game winning streak to begin the season came to a crashing halt after the Owls scored six runs in the top of the ninth inning, including a grand slam by Donovan Cash to win it.
It began with Kennesaw’s Cam Suto’s two-run home run that tied the game 9-9. WVU reliever Jack Kartsonas then forced a line out and a ground out to seemingly calm everything down. With two outs, Shamaar McDuffie singled, which forced WVU head coach Steve Sabins to bring in Reese Bassinger for Kartsonas. Bassinger promptly hit Nate Anderson and Chris Cole was intentionally walked to load the bases.
Cash homered to left field on the first pitch he saw from Bassinger.
WVU went quietly in the bottom of the ninth. Sam White doubled with two outs, but Jace Rineart struck out to end the game.
Kartsonas was charged with the loss, but all five WVU pitchers gave up at least one run, as the Owls (6-10) pounded out 14 hits overall and batted .400 (6 for 15) with runners in scoring position.
WVU (13-1) had a 9-7 lead heading into the final inning, with five of those runs coming in the third. Logan Sauve walked with the bases loaded and White singled home two more with the bases still loaded in that inning.
White was 3 for 4 in the game and finished with three RBIs to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. Rineart also drove in three runs. Sauve hit a solo home run that cleared the visitor’s bullpen in the first inning.
