MANHATTAN, Kan. – Junior left-hander Ross Vance threw a complete game three-hitter en route to a 5-3 victory over Kansas State on Friday evening at Tointon Family Stadium to even the series.
Vance (4-2) allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits with two strikeouts and six walks.
“He was really good when he was in the strike zone. They hit the top of the ball all night long, he was sinking it really well,” coach Randy Mazey said. “They must have had 14 or 15 ground ball outs. We played really good defense in the infield, but he had six walks too. Had he not done that, been a little more efficient, he would’ve thrown a lot less pitches, but when he threw strikes he was really good.”
West Virginia (18-11, 3-5 Big 12) scored five runs on 10 hits with one error, while Kansas State (12-16, 2-6 Big 12) had three runs on three hits with one error.
Eight of the nine WVU batters recorded a hit, led by two apiece from senior shortstop Taylor Munden and freshman second baseman Kyle Davis. Davis added two RBIs with one double.
“Every time we had an opportunity to score a run early in the game we did it,” Mazey said. “We had some big two-out hits and anytime you can score five runs on 10 hits you’re being pretty efficient.”
West Virginia used back-to-back two-out hits to go ahead 2-0 in the top of the first. Senior left fielder Brad Johnson singled to center field to score senior third baseman Justin Fox from second base. Johnson came around to score when Davis smacked a double off the left field fence.
Freshman designated hitter Caleb Potter made it 3-0 in the top of the second as he scored on a single to right field by senior catcher Cam O’Brien.
K-State scored a run without a hit in the bottom of the third to cut the deficit to 3-1. After drawing a leadoff walk, Jake Wodtke advanced on a sac bunt and an error, and came around to score on a fielder’s choice to shortstop by Clayton Dalrymple.
West Virginia brought its lead back to three runs at 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning on an infield single to third base by junior center fielder KC Huth. Sophomore first baseman Jackson Cramer led off the frame with a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and used heads-up baserunning to score from second base on Huth’s single.
Sophomore right fielder Shaun Wood led off the top of the fifth with a bunt single to first base. After stealing second and third, Wood scored on an RBI single down the left field line by Davis to bring the lead to 5-1.
K-State cut the West Virginia lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh after Vance issued a leadoff walk to Tyler Wolfe. After advancing two bases on a ground out and a single, Wolfe scored on a Carter Yagi ground out to Vance.
Shane Conlon cut the Mountaineer lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth after being hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Conlon scored on a double to right center field by Max Brown.
Wolfe drew three walks to lead the Kansas State offense and scored one run. Brown, Krause and Wodtke had one hit apiece.
Brandon Courville (0-2) was issued the loss as the Mountaineers tagged Courville for four runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk in 3.1 innings.
West Virginia and Kansas State return to action for the rubber match on Saturday at Noon. The Mountaineers will send sophomore right-hander Chad Donato (4-3) to the mound.
The game will be broadcast on FOX College Sports Pacific and streamed at K-STATEHD.TV, while it also can be heard on the affiliates of the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG College with Wyatt Thompson and Ernie Galusky on the call.
Additionally, fans can listen to the broadcast via the WVU Gameday App on their mobile device, as well as the
TuneIn Radio App. WVUsports.com also will carry free live audio via the LeanStream Player at
WVUsports.com/audio.
A link to live stats is available on WVUsports.com.
