Mountaineers Cruise to Victory Over Baylor - West Virginia University Athletics (2024)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.– Behind a season-high in runs scored, the West Virginia University baseball team defeated Baylor, Friday night at Kendrick Family Ballpark, 18-5. The Mountaineers improve to 24-16 and 12-7 in the Big 12 while the Bears fall to 19-21 and 9-10 in conference play.

Juniors JJ Wetherholt and Kyle West each hit home runs on the night while senior Reed Chumley drove in five runs. Wetherholt finished the night with four RBI while West, sophom*ore Logan Sauve and junior Grant Hussey each knocked in a pair.

On the mound, junior Tyler Switalski earned the win with 4.1 innings out of the bullpen, striking out six while allowing just one run. Sophom*ore Robby Porco and freshman Joseph Fredericks each contributed a scoreless inning in relief as well.

Baylor jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first, but the Mountaineers responded in the home half with four runs, taking the lead before making an out. Sophom*ore Sam White singled home one run before Chumley brought home two more to put WVU on top. Hussey added a fourth run on a sacrifice fly to close out the inning.

In the second, West Virginia added six more with the big blow being a three-run home run off the bat of Wetherholt, his third of the season. West added an RBI single before Hussey hit his first-career triple and came around to score on an errant throw.

Baylor got two runs back in the third, but WVU answered once again with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back sacrifice flies from Wetherholt and Sauve.

In the fourth, West hit his 10^th home run of the season, the second Mountaineer to reach double digits this year joining Chumley.

Sophom*ore Skylar King collected an RBI single in the seventh to make it 14-5 and after an error brought home another run, Chumley provided the cherry on top with a bases-loaded triple.

The Mountaineers will look to take the series tomorrow afternoon against the Bears with first pitch set for 4 p.m.

For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.