“I’AM LEAVING” Quarterback Garrett Greene has announced that he is leaving the West Virginia University due to…..
Admittedly, it’s tough to win on the road, especially against good conference competition, but West Virginia made things easy for the home team on Sunday.
Committing three errors, walking seven batters and hitting two more, the Mountaineers combined shoddy pitching and fielding with suddenly punchless hitting in an 8-2 loss to Cincinnati at the Bearcats’ home UC Stadium.
That result handed the Cats (27-21, 13-11) a series win, and again raised some concerns over WVU’s play heading down the stretch.
For the second consecutive day, UC jumped out to a 4-0 lead, only this time it took it just a handful of batters to do so.
By the time starter Aidan Major got his first out of the game, UC had already recorded two hits and two steals, buttressed by a Mountaineer throwing error, to score a run.
Major required 28 pitches to end the first, and that was also the conclusion of his day, with the resulting loss dropping him to 4-4 on the year.
WVU was able to respond in its next at-bat, but it was minimal, especially after it loaded the bases with none out.
The Mountaineers could only manage a fielder’s choice that scored one, but that was clearly a win for the Bearcats.
West Virginia pushed across a second run in the third inning on the sacrifice fly, but again, the outcome was a downer after opening the frame with a JJ Wetherholt pop fly that fell inside the left field foul line against the shift.
Thus buoyed, UC wasted no time in capitalizing, demonstrating how to take advantage of opportunities.
After Hunter Jessee got aboard on an errant toss from WVU’s Grant Hussey which was scored as a hit, Luke Sefcik walked.
WVU reliever Tyler Switalski got the next two UC batters, but Alec Jones, hitting with a free pass after WVU failed to get Jessee to open the inning, homered to left to make it 7-2.
From there it was just a matter of playing out the string.
UC starter Nathan Taylor set down nine consecutive Mountaineers in the middle innings, and WVU (28-18, 15-9) again failed to take advantage of baserunners, putting three aboard in the seventh but emerging without a run.
Taylor picked up the win to move to 7-1 on the year, striking out three while yielding only two hits.
WVU returns to Kendrick Family Ballpark for what is expected to be a five-game homestand over a seven-day stretch.
Penn State is scheduled to visit for a Wednesday night game on May 8, assuming the weather agrees with the Nittany Lions, and then the Mountaineers host Kansas State in a weekend series.
The PSU game is slated for an ESPN2 showing, with first pitch set for 7 p.m.
