Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team closed the 2022 regular season with a 5-1 win over Kansas State on Saturday afternoon at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark.
 
On a hot day in Morgantown, the Mountaineers completed the three-game sweep over the Wildcats to earn their program-record, 14th Big 12 Conference victory of the year. WVU opened the scoring with a run in the first, tallied two more in the third and added on late with two runs in the eighth.
 
Freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan Major earned the win for WVU (33-20, 14-10 Big 12), bumping his record to 3-0 on the year, while Dylan Phillips took the loss for K-State (27-27, 8-16 Big 12). Additionally, fifth-year senior right-hander Trey Braithwaite recorded his eighth save of the spring.
 
"It's just really cool for a team of kids to be part of something that has never been done before," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "Those opportunities are so few and far between, and we got one, so we're going to play this thing out pretty hard."
 
After the two teams traded runs in the first and second innings, the Mountaineers took a 3-1 lead in the third. First, senior outfielder Austin Davis hit an RBI triple, before freshman infielder JJ Wetherholt brought him in with a base hit to right field.
 
From there, the Mountaineers took over on the mound to hold the K-State offense at bay. Major allowed just one run on three hits with five strikeouts and three walks in 5.0 innings, before redshirt junior right-hander Noah Short pitched two, clean innings in the sixth and seventh.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, freshman infielder Grant Hussey gave WVU a bit more breathing room with a two-run, opposite-field homer to extend the lead to 5-1. The big fly marked the Washington, West Virginia, native's team-leading 10th of the campaign.
 
Then, Braithwaite, who came on in the top of the eighth, closed the door on the WVU's regular season with a scoreless ninth. In all, West Virginia yielded just five hits to the Wildcats on Saturday.
 
Offensively, redshirt junior catcher/infielder Dayne Leonard finished 2-for-4 in the win, while Davis scored two runs. In all, West Virginia outscored K-State, 35-9, in the three-game set.
 
With the win, West Virginia secured its second Big 12 series sweep of the year. It also pushed the squad to 17-6 at home this season, as well as 16-11 all-time against Kansas State.
 
Additionally, West Virginia's 14, Big 12 wins topped the previous program record from the 2013 and 2019 seasons (13).
 
Prior to the game, the Mountaineers honored nine Summer 2021, Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 graduates and recognized three fifth-year seniors – Braithwaite, right-handed pitcher Zach Bravo and right-handed pitcher Chase Smith – during Senior Day festivities.
 
Next up, the Mountaineers await their 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship fate. The tournament begins on Wednesday, May 25, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
 
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