Kearns, WVU Rallies toUpset No. 19 Texas and Even Series

By rscaife
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Updated: April 29, 2018

courtesy of West Virginia Athletics

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (April 28, 2018) – A three-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning propelled the West Virginia University baseball team to an 8-6 victory over No. 19 Texas on Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers (21-19, 5-9 Big 12) evened the series thanks to a three-run rally that came after the Longhorns (30-16, 12-5) scored three of their own to take a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth. The upset win came in front of a season-high crowd of 2,618 at Monongalia County Ballpark, the ninth-largest home crowd in program history. The series finale is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

The win was secured when WVU sophomore right-handed reliever Alek Manoah stranded the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth inning. Manoah also left two on in the top of the eighth after UT had taken its lead.

“With the game on the line like that, you want the ball in the hands of your guy that lives for a moment like that, and that’s Alek Manoah,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “Guys at the plate who live for a moment like that, you want them at the plate. You can talk to freshmen all you want about ‘Do you want to pitch against Texas in front of 3000 people with the game on the line?’ They’ll all say, ‘Yeah,’ but then when it gets here, it’s not what they expected. Sometimes the moment gets to them a little bit, and that’s just part of being a freshman. It’s hard to teach. It’s experience that has to teach you that. All of our guys that are going through this with the energy and excitement of the crowd are going to get that much better next time around.

Manoah pitched 1.2 scoreless innings and earned the win, while junior second baseman and Texas native Kyle Gray led the Mountaineer offense with two hits and three RBIs on a pair of home runs. Gray had his second multi-homer game of the season with a solo shot in the third and a two-run home run in the fifth inning. Gray leads the team with nine home runs on the season.

Gray was one of four Mountaineers with two hits and one of six who scored at least one run. All but one WVU starter had a hit in the win. Both West Virginia and Texas had 13 hits, while UT stranded 14 runners on base and WVU left eight on.

For the second time in the series, and the 22nd time this season, the Mountaineers scored first, with a run in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sophomore center fielder Brandon White reached on an infield single stole second and scored on a single up the middle by junior right fielder Darius Hill.

Texas took its first lead of the day in the second, at 2-1 on a two-run home run by DJ Petrinsky, but West Virginia answered right back in the bottom half of the inning to tie the game at 2-2. The run came when junior designated hitter Braden Zarbnisky reached on a fielder’s choice, scoring sophomore left fielder Isaiah Kearns.

Both teams scored in the third to make it a 3-3 game. UT’s run came on back-to-back doubles to start the inning, while Gray’s first home run of the day, with two outs, was West Virginia’s answer.

WVU added two more in the fifth, on Gray’s two-out, two-run, home run, to take a 5-3 lead.

Freshman right-hander Tristen Hudson relieved sophomore right-handed starter Kade Strowd with a runner on and one out in the sixth and escaped the jam, leaving two runners on in scoring position. Hudson followed by facing the minimum in the seventh, with the help of an inning-ending double play.

In 5.1 innings, Strowd allowed three runs on seven hits. He struck out four and walked three.

The Longhorns rallied to score three runs in the eighth inning, one unearned. A bases-loaded walk scored the first run before a two-RBI single brought in the last two.

The Mountaineers trailed 6-5, but quickly answered right back in the bottom of the eighth with three runs of their own to regain an 8-6 lead. With the bases loaded and one out, a wild pitch scored the game-tying run, as Kearns easily came in from third. White followed with an infield single to score sophomore pinch-hitter Chase Illig and give WVU a 7-6 advantage. The final run came with runners on the corners, and Zarbnisky scored from third on a wild pitch when Hill struck out.

Manoah returned to the mound to close out the game in the ninth. He gave up three straight singles to load the bases with no outs, but did not give up a run. Back-to-back strikeouts were recorded for the first two outs before a flyout to center ended the game.