MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team needed just seven innings on Wednesday to defeat Penn State, 18-7, at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The Mountaineers improve to 29-18 while the Nittany Lions fall to 21-21,
 
West Virginia hit six home runs as part of an 18-hit night. Junior Brodie Kresser went 4-for-4 with a grand slam, five RBI and four runs scored. Junior JJ Wetherholt collected three hits with a home run while senior Reed Chumley and sophomores Sam White, Skylar King, and Logan Sauve all went deep as well.
 
On the mound, sophomore Maxx Yehl pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, redshirt-sophomore Tommy Beam tossed 2.0 scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts before freshman Aidan Smith closed out the game with a scoreless frame. Freshman Chase Meyer made his first career start and struck out five while allowing five runs.
 
It only took one pitch for the Mountaineers to score as Sauve opened the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run. White soon followed with a two-run single before Kresser connected on WVU's second grand slam of the season. King closed out the eight-run inning with a solo home run into the Mountaineer bullpen.
 
In the second inning, Chumley and White went back-to-back to extend the lead to 10-0 before King hit a sacrifice fly and Sauve knocked in a run with a single.
 
Penn State made the game a little more interesting in the third, putting seven runs on the board. However, in the home half, West Virginia answered with three runs on a double from junior Grant Hussey and two run-scoring singles from Kresser and sophomore Ben Lumsden.
 
In the fourth, Wetherholt connected on his fourth home run of the season, a 440-foot moonshot that landed on the roof of the clubhouse in right field.
 
Sophomore Ellis Garcia pushed the lead back to double digits in the fifth with a two-run double off the wall in left.
 
The Mountaineers will be back at Kendrick Family Ballpark this weekend for three games against Kansas State. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday will be Senior Day while Sunday will be a celebration of Coach Randy Mazey's career.
 
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