MORGANTOWN – The sun poked through the clouds at Kendrick Family Ballpark on Wednesday afternoon as the West Virginia University baseball team hosted Ohio University for its 2025 home-opener.
The Mountaineers (8-0) continued their best start to a season since 1966 with an 8-4 victory over the Bobcats (1-6).
WVU scored eight runs on 13 hits. Four Mountaineers tallied multiple hits in the contest, led by junior Logan Sauve, who went 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles and two RBI.
WVU freshman Mac Stiffler made the first start of his collegiate career, throwing 3.1 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
“Always fun to be in front of your home crowd for the first time every season; the energy was electric,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “We had eight pitchers on the mound and played ten players. Any time you can win a game doing that, you’ll feel pretty good about it.
The Mountaineer offense scored early in support of their first-year debutant as the first four batters of the first inning earned a hit for WVU, capped by a two-RBI double down the right-field line by senior Kyle West, giving the hosts a 3-0 lead.
The Bobcats’ first hit came at the top of the third inning from the bat of shortstop JR Nelson on a single to left field, but Stiffler responded well and got out of the third inning without further damage.
West hit his second double in as many at-bats in the bottom of the third and was brought home by sophomore outfielder Michael Perazza with an RBI single to right, extending the WVU lead to 4-0 after three innings. West entered the day with a .250 batting average and four base hits in 16 at-bats.
Ohio opened the fourth inning with three straight base hits and no outs, looking to chip away at the early deficit. Stiffler earned the first out on the next at-bat but surrendered a bases-loaded walk to follow, giving Ohio its first run and ending his outing after 3.1 innings and only two hits allowed. Junior right-hander Luke Lyman relieved Stiffler after a solid freshman debut.
“Super proud of Mac today in his first start at the collegiate level,” Sabins said. “And all of our pitchers we used today. We have youth at the position and gave some guys the ball today who haven’t seen action yet, and they performed well, and we liked what we saw.”
A sacrifice fly by Blake Reed cut the WVU lead in half, 4-2, after the top of the fourth, but Lyman got out of the inning without allowing another base runner.
Junior Logan Sauve continued his hot start to the 2025 season with an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, scoring Armani Guzman, who advanced to third on a wild throw. WVU’s ninth hit of the game gave the hosts a 5-2 lead after four frames.
Ohio loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the sixth and cut the lead to 5-3 on a dropped strike-three that allowed the batter to reach first, scoring the runner from third.
But WVU freshman reliever Bryson Hoff got out of the inning without allowing another run, and the Mountaineers pushed the lead to 6-3 on a home run to left field by senior Grant Hussey (his first of the season and 38th of his career) in the bottom half of the inning.
“It definitely felt good to be putting the barrel on the ball again,” Hussey said. “I haven’t had the best start this season, but baseball is a streaky game, and seeing one go out is something to start with for sure.”
The Bobcats threatened in the eighth inning with a run on a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to 8-4, but WVU ended the inning with a double play to dampen OU’s hopes.
The Mountaineers will travel south to Charlotte this weekend for a four-game series against Queens University.
