Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The No. 12 West Virginia baseball team dropped its first game in nearly three weeks on Saturday, falling to Oklahoma, 6-3, at Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark. The Mountaineers fall to 35-12 and 12-5 in the Big 12 while the Sooners improve to 26-21 and 10-10 in conference play.
 
Combined with the strong play of the Mountaineers lately and the great weather, a new attendance record was set as 4,387 fans came to the ballpark to cheer on WVU, surpassing the previous record of 4,355 set against Fordham in the 2019 NCAA Regional.
 
"Today was a great game to watch," said head coach Randy Mazey. "Both teams played well, pitched well, and hit well in front of a great crowd and great atmosphere. The difference was they hit two balls over the wall, and we hit about nine balls that landed just before the fence. If the wind was blowing out, it could have been different, but their pitcher did a good job."
 
Sophomore JJ Wetherholt was held hitless yesterday but came back today with two doubles and a run scored. Junior Landon Wallace and freshman Ellis Garcia also had two hits on the day.
 
The Mountaineers hit a lot of balls hard with multiple balls coming up just short of the fence, falling into the glove of a Sooner outfielder.
 
On the mound, graduate Blaine Traxel struck out three in 7.0 innings while allowing five runs. Junior Carlson Reed allowed a run and struck out three in 2.0 innings of work.
 
Oklahoma jumped out to an early 2-0 lead just two batters into the game as Bryce Madron hit a two-run home run.
 
In the home half of the first, Wallace got one run back as he singled home graduate student Tevin Tucker.
 
Traxel settled down after the first, throwing four scoreless innings before Oklahoma hit another two-run home run in the sixth. Once again, the Mountaineers got back within one with two runs in the bottom of the inning as junior Braden Barry hit a sacrifice fly to the warning track before graduate Dayne Leonard produced an RBI single.
 
The Sooners extended their lead back to three with two runs in the eighth. In the bottom of the eighth, a couple more long fly balls by WVU did not fall and entered the ninth still down three. In the final frame, Garcia led off with a single, but a groundout, another fly ball to the wall, and a fielder's choice ended the game.
 
Due to potential inclement weather in the area on Sunday, tomorrow's game has been moved up to an 11 a.m. first pitch.
 
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