Box Score HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team used three home runs and effective starting pitching in a 7-3 win over Marshall on Tuesday afternoon at the Kennedy Center YMCA.
 
WVU jumped out to a 7-0 lead at one point, scoring five of those runs in the second inning. In all, the club finished with eight hits in the win, its fourth in a row.
 
Fifth-year senior right-handed pitcher Zach Bravo earned the win, his second of the year, while Ryan Capuano was issued the loss for the Thundering Herd.
 
"We have to just pile up the wins," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "We have to do it by committee – that's the way we've done all year and that's how we're going to have to keep doing it."
 
After Bravo sent the Herd down in order in the bottom of the first inning, the Mountaineers (14-8) took a 5-0 lead with a big second frame. It began with a two-run double off the bat of sophomore outfielder Braden Barry, before sophomore infielder Mikey Kluska smacked a two-run homer, his first of the year, to double the lead.
 
From there, senior outfielder Austin Davis put the finishing touches on the rally, sending a solo shot over the wall in left center for his second big fly of the spring.
 
Then, WVU made it 6-0 in the fourth with Kluska's third RBI of the day, a sacrifice fly to left. An inning later, junior outfielder Victor Scott II tallied his fourth homer of the year with a solo fly to right center to stretch the Mountaineer lead to seven.
 
Bravo, meanwhile, pitched six, shutout innings, allowing just three hits with three strikeouts and no walks. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, native retired the final seven hitters he faced in his outing and threw 50 of his 69 pitches for strikes.
 
Marshall (12-12-1) scored for the first time in the seventh and added two more in the eighth to make it 7-3. Fifth-year senior right-hander Chase Smith got the final out of the eighth in his 100th collegiate appearance, while redshirt junior right-hander Daniel Ouderkirk finished the job with a scoreless ninth inning.
 
Davis finished 3-for-4 in the win to lead the Mountaineers offensively. Additionally, Barry scored two runs to go along with his two RBI.
 
With the win, WVU moved to 51-25 all-time against Marshall and has now won 11 of the last 12 meetings with the Herd.
 
Next up, West Virginia continues its road trip with a game at Pitt on Wednesday, March 30. First pitch of the Backyard Brawl at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh is set for 5 p.m. ET.
 
The game can be seen live on ACC Network Extra, as well as heard on the Mountaineer Sports Network on 100.9 WZST-FM, as well as various affiliates throughout the state, the WVU Gameday App and WVUsports.com.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.