Box Score COLLEGE PARK, Md. (Feb. 21, 2023) – The West Virginia baseball team scored five runs in the first inning against No. 13 Maryland and made it stick, Tuesday afternoon, defeating the Terrapins, 8-6, at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium. The Mountaineers improve to 2-2 on the season while Maryland falls to 2-2.
 
"It was a huge win today," said head coach Randy Mazey. "This is a really hard place to win. They are so good, especially offensively, and we held them to six runs on a night with the wind blowing out. Our pitchers really attacked the zone and our hitters were aggressive. We stole some bases, hit some homers, and played great defense. That's as good a game as we can play against a good team."
 
Freshman Sam White and redshirt-senior Tevin Tucker each hit home runs in the contest while freshman Logan Sauve had two hits and three RBI. Redshirt-senior Caleb McNeely and sophomore JJ Wetherholt also had two hits with McNeely adding two RBI and two runs scored while Wetherholt stole three bases.
 
On the mound, freshman Robby Porco made his first career start and threw 5.0 innings with three strikeouts while allowing just two runs against one of the nation's most potent offenses. Redshirt-freshman David Hagaman played a key role out of the pen with 2.0 scoreless innings while sophomore Keegan Allen earned his first save of the season.
 
The Mountaineers got off to a fast start in the first, scoring five runs. With the bases loaded, McNeelly got the scoring started with a two-run double before Sauve drove in two more with a single up the middle, forcing Maryland to make a pitching change. The new pitcher did not fare any better as he walked the next three batters to force in another run for WVU leading to the second pitching change of the inning for the Terrapins.
 
After adding a run on a fielder's choice from Sauve in the second, White blasted his first-career home run to lead off the third inning over the right-center field wall to extend the Mountaineer lead to 7-0.
 
The Terrapins got two runs back in the bottom of the third to make it 7-2 where it remained until the seventh when Tucker hit a leadoff home run.
 
In the home half of the seventh, Maryland scored three runs on back-to-back home runs before Hagaman came out of the bullpen to stop the bleeding, getting the next three batters out with a couple of strikeouts.
 
In the ninth, Maryland got the tying run to the plate, but Allen induced a groundout to second to clinch the victory for the Mountaineers.
 
West Virginia will now head west to Arizona to take on the Wildcats for three games in Tucson this weekend before going to Scottsdale on Monday for an exhibition against the Diamondbacks. First pitch against the Wildcats on Friday is set for 8 p.m. EST.
 
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