Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (March 21, 2023) – The West Virginia baseball team suffered its first home loss of the year on Tuesday, falling to Hofstra, 4-2 at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark. The Mountaineers' nine-game winning streak comes to an end as WVU falls to 15-5 while Hofstra improves to 7-12.
 
"I think when the first two guys for us scored runs, we may have thought it was going to be easy," said head coach Randy Mazey. "But Hofstra came to beat the heck out of us. They attacked the baseball at home plate like no team we've played this year and their pitchers did a good job of making pitches when they had to."
 
Junior Braden Barry had two hits, both doubles, to lead the team. Sophomore JJ Wetherholt and redshirt-senior Dayne Leonard both drove in runs while freshman Sam White and junior Landon Wallace each added hits.
 
On the mound, sophomore Aidan Major suffered the loss as he allowed four runs, just two earned, while striking out four in 5.0 innings. Junior Carlson Reed kept the game close by throwing 2.2 perfect innings in relief with five strikeouts.
 
The Mountaineers jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first. Barry led off the inning with a hustle double before coming around to score on a single by Wetherholt. After stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch, he came into score on a groundout from Leonard.
 
The Pride chipped away with an unearned run in the third before tying the game in the fourth.
 
West Virginia looked like they would retake the lead in the fourth as Wallace hit a fly ball to left-center with White on first. However, the ball took an unfortunate bounce over the wall, forcing White to stay at third before Hofstra escaped the jam with a flyout.
 
Hofstra took the lead in the sixth with two runs coming into score on a single and an error by the Mountaineers.
 
WVU had a chance in the ninth as it loaded the bases with two outs, but Michael O'Hanlon got Leonard to strike out swinging to secure the victory for the Pride.
 
The two teams will meet again tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 3 p.m.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.