MORGANTOWN — Landon Wallace’s three-run home run in the eighth inning broke open a close game and West Virginia picked up its first series win against No. 18 Oklahoma State since 2019 with a 9-5 victory on Saturday at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater, Okla.
It was Wallace’s sixth home run of the season for the Mountaineers, who also beat the Cowboys 6-3 on Friday.
Oklahoma State has now lost five straight heading into Sunday’s final game of the series, which begins at 1 p.m.
The Mountaineers (25-10, 5-3 Big 12) played without star second baseman J.J. Wetherholt, who is listed as day-to-day by the school with a left-hand injury.
Wetherholt, the Big 12’s leading hitter with a .451 average, injured the hand Friday night, while sliding into second base with a stolen base.
WVU said in a social media post that Wetherholt had X-rays on Saturday morning that came back negative for any breaks or fractures.
There is no timetable on when he’ll return to the Mountaineers’ lineup.
Without him, WVU was in a back-and-forth game that started with Oklahoma State (23-13, 7-7) taking a 2-0 lead in the first inning after Carson Benge and Vic Riggio both scored on Sam White’s throwing error with two outs.
The Mountaineers tied the game in the third when Dayne Leonard hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, followed by Braden Berry scoring on a wild pitch.
WVU took a 5-4 lead in the fifth after Logan Sauve led off with a single through the left side and Tevin Tucker beat out a sacrifice bunt for a hit.
Barry walked to load the bases and Wallace scored Sauve with an RBI single, while Tucker scored when Leonard hit into a double play. Caleb McNeely then hit an RBI single to score Barry.
Wallace, a first-year transfer out of Nevada, finished 2 for 4 with four RBIs.
All of it helped Aidan Major (2-2) to pick up the win in relief of Blaine Traxel.
Major went 5 1/3 innings after coming in for Traxel in the fourth inning. He struck out eight and allowed two hits and a run.
Tucker was a perfect 3 for 3 and scored three times for WVU, while Barry added two hits and three runs at the leadoff spot in place of Wetherholt.
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