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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia baseball team dropped the series finale to No. 16 Oklahoma State, 21-11, in eight innings on Saturday afternoon in Stillwater, Okla.
In the rubber game of a three-game, weekend set, the Mountaineers scored runs in seven different innings but allowed a 10-run third to the Cowboys to create a deficit it couldn’t overcome. WVU finished with 11 runs on 10 hits with two errors, while OSU tallied 21 runs on 13 hits and two errors.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Carlson Reed took the loss on the mound, while OSU’s Trevor Martin grabbed the win.
WVU (11-11, 3-3 Big 12) got its offense in gear early on, scoring in the top of the first, thanks to redshirt junior catcher/outfielder Vince Ippoliti RBI single to make it 1-0. Two innings later, senior catcher/outfielder Paul McIntosh smashed a two-run homer to left to give the visitors a 3-0 advantage.
Then, the game completely changed with Oklahoma State’s 10-run frame, highlighted by a two-run single and three-run home run. That gave OSU (18-7-1, 6-3 Big 12) a 10-3 lead, before WVU began chipping away with three runs in the fourth. Fifth-year senior first baseman/outfielder Hudson Byorick hit a bases-clearing double to get the Mountaineers within four at 10-6.
From there, the Cowboys scored two in the home half of the fourth, two in the fifth, two in the sixth and five in the eighth, as the Mountaineers used 10 total pitchers in the loss. Freshman left-hander Ben Hampton started the game for West Virginia, allowing three runs on four hits with three strikeouts in 2.0 innings of work.
Fifth-year senior infielder Kevin Brophy smacked his team-leading fifth home run of the campaign in the top of the fifth to make it a 12-7 game, before freshman infielder Mikey Kluska also left the yard, his fourth of the year, in the seventh. That made it 16-10, moments before a Cowboy fielding error dropped the Mountaineer deficit to five at 16-11.
However, Oklahoma State ended things in the eighth with a five-run frame, earning the Big 12 series win in the process.
Four Mountaineers finished with multiple hits in the setback. Byorick led the squad with three RBI, while Kluska, Ippoliti and McIntosh each drove in two. Saturday marked the first time this season WVU hit multiple home runs in a game but lost.
Next up, West Virginia readies for the renewal of the Backyard Brawl on Tuesday at Pitt. First pitch at the Panthers’ Cost Field is set for 3 p.m.
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