MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team dropped a tight contest, 4-3, to Kansas State, Friday evening at Kendrick Family Ballpark. Both teams are now 29-19 on the season while the Mountaineers go to 15-10 in the Big 12 and the Wildcats improve to 13-12 in conference play.
 
Despite the result tonight, West Virginia officially clinched its spot in the 2024 Big 12 Baseball Championship with losses by Baylor and Texas Tech.
 
Senior Reed Chumley had two hits on the night with a home run. Junior JJ Wetherholt also collected two hits and an RBI.
 
On the mound, senior Hayden Cooper had his best start of the season as he struck out six in 6.0 innings while allowing three runs. Sophomore Robby Porco allowed one unearned run in an inning of work while senior Hambleton Oliver pitched the final two scoreless innings for WVU.
 
Kansas State took an early lead with a run in the first, but Cooper limited the damage by getting a strikeout and pop up with runners on second and third.
 
The Mountaineers evened up the game in the second as sophomore Skylar King hit a groundball through the vacated hole at shortstop to score junior Grant Hussey.
 
In the third, the Wildcats retook the lead with a run and then added another run in the sixth to take a 3-1 lead.
 
In the home half of the sixth, Chumley went opposite field over the Mountaineer bullpen in right field for his team-leading 14^th home run of the season.
 
The two teams traded runs once again in the seventh with Wetherholt driving in a run on an infield single.
 
Oliver kept it a one-run game to give WVU a chance, but Wildcat All-American closer Tyson Neighbors came out of the bullpen in the ninth and shut down the Mountaineers in order.
 
The two teams will be back on the field tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 3 p.m., up an hour from its originally scheduled time. It will be Senior Day tomorrow as the Mountaineers will honor Derek Clark, Hayden Cooper, Reed Chumley, and Hambleton Oliver with ceremonies beginning at 2:15 p.m.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.