MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia thwarted K-State's comeback bid Saturday afternoon, as the Mountaineers completed a three-game sweep of the Wildcats 5-1 on the final day of the regular season at Monongalia County Ballpark.
West Virginia (33-20, 14-10 Big 12) held K-State hitless with runners on base, as the Wildcats were 0-for-11 on the afternoon. Trailing by two runs at 3-1, the Cats loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning. However, an inning-ending double play kept WVU's lead intact.
"Disappointing day and a disappointing weekend," said head coach Pete Hughes. "We had our opportunities to win that game but didn't take advantage, situationally. Our bullpen did a great job of and gave us a chance to try and build innings, but we just could not capitalize."
K-State (27-27, 8-16 Big 12) ended up stranding seven baserunners in the game, as it went 0-4 during its east coast road trip. The Wildcats locked up the No. 7 seed in next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, which gets underway Wednesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
In his first start of the season, Dylan Phillips went a season-long three innings. The lefty allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits with a couple strikeouts.
Christian Ruebeck and Griffin Hassall teamed up to throw four scoreless innings in relief of Phillips. The duo surrendered just one hit while striking out four.
Kaelen Culpepper tied the game at a run apiece with a solo home run in the top of the second inning, answering WVU's run in the first. The homer was the freshman's fifth of the campaign and the Wildcats' third of the series.
WVU manufactured its initial run in the opening frame, as leadoff hitter Austin Davis was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a bunt and stood on third following a Wildcat error. Davis was able to scamper home on a double steal attempt.
Davis then broke the 1-1 stalemate in the third inning with an RBI triple scoring Tevin Tucker who earlier singled. J.J. Wetherholt followed Davis' run-producing hit with a single of his own, handing WVU a 3-1 lead.
The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the eighth inning. Grant Hussey lifted a two-run, two-out home run to pad the Mountaineers' lead. It was Hussey's team-leading 10th of the season.
WVU starter Aidan Major was credited with the victory after allowing one earned run on three hits in five innings of work. Major struck out five and walked three.
Trey Braithwaite and Noah Short combined to log four shutout relief innings to preserve the sweep. Each surrendered just one base hit while the duo combined for two stirkeouts and a walk.
Braithwaite recorded a six-out save, his eighth of the year.
Dayne Leonard was the game's lone player to collect more than one hit, going 2-for-4 to lead the Mountaineers.
Cole Johnson and Dominic Johnson each doubled for the Wildcats. Dominic Johnson turned in his team-high 19th double of the season, moving into an eighth-place tie on K-State's single season list.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Mountaineers manufactured a run on a double steal attempt in the first inning. In the top half of the second, Culpepper tied the game with one swing. His fifth homer of the year cleared the 400-foot sign in straightaway center field.
West Virginia reclaimed its lead in the bottom of third, getting an RBI triple from Davis and Wetherholt followed with an RBI single to put the WVU lead at 3-1.
Ruebeck, who came into the game in the fourth for Phillips, allowed the first three to reach in the inning. With no out and the bases full, Ruebeck got Kluska to ground into a 1-2-3 double play before inducing an inning-ending lineup from Tucker to escape without a run against him.
Ruebeck walked three in the fifth but was bailed out by Raphael Pelletier throwing out two potential base stealers. The threat ended with a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play, as Pelletier gunned down Wetherholt trying to swipe third.
Due to three walks thrown by Major and Short, K-State had the bases loaded with only one out. Short, who entered for Major after he walked Nicoloff and Phillips, got Culpepper to line into an inning-ending double play.
Still trailing by two, Nicoloff led off the eighth with a single to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Braithewaite, who started the eighth, sat down the next three Cats he faced to keep WVU's lead intact.
Hussey gave the Mountaineers two insurance runs with a two-out, two-run homer to left field. Leonard set up the long ball with a two-out single before Hussey's team-leading 10th bomb of the season.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored one run on five hits with one error and left seven on base.
- West Virginia scored five runs on seven hits, committed no errors and stranded six baserunners.
- Culpepper's solo home run in the second marked the Wildcats' only run-producing hit.
- It was Culpepper's fifth home run of his freshman campaign.
- Cole Johnson and Dominic Johnson each doubled.
- Dominic Johnson leads the Wildcats with 19 doubles, moving into an eight-place tie on K-State's single-season list.
- K-State threw out four potential base stealers, with Pelletier gunning down three.
- Phillips went a season-high three innings in the start, allowing two earned runs on four this.
- Hassall and Ruebeck combined for four shutout innings in relief with one total hit against them.
- Major earned the win after giving up just one run on three hits over five innings.
- Major struck out five and walked three.
- Leonard led WVU with two hits, going 2-for-4, while Hussey drove in two with his eighth-inning homer.
- K-State went 0-for-11 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
- West Virginia was 5-for-14 with runners on base and 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
- West Virginia leads the all-time series 16-11, dating back to 2013.
- K-State is 3-9 on the road in the series.
- WVU swept the Wildcats for the first time since 2014.
- K-State has 82 home runs on the season, the second-most in a single season in program history and seven shy of last year's record of 89.
- The Wildcats have homered in 10 of their last 11 games and in 14 of their last 16 overall.
- K-State is 6-17 in true road games and 6-20 in all games away from home.
- The Cats finished 1-11 on the road in Big 12 play.
- K-State will be the No. 7 seed in next week's Big 12 Baseball Championship.
UP NEXT
K-State heads to the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, as the No. 7 seed. The conference tournament gets underway Wednesday, May 25. Radio coverage will be available on the K-State Sports Radio Network with free, live audio streaming at K-StateSports.com/Watch.
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