ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 17 West Virginia University baseball team opened its series at UCF with a 4-1 victory, Friday evening at John Euliano Park. The Mountaineers improve to 35-5 and 14-3 in the Big 12 while the Knights fall to 23-18 and 6-13 in conference play.
 
The Mountaineers had just one hit on the night, a single by senior Kyle West in the seventh inning, but managed to score four runs on a three sacrifice flies and a groundout. It is the second time in program history that WVU has won a game with just one hit, first doing so in a 1-0 win over Duquesne in 1992.
 
WVU took advantage of the free bases they were given as the Mountaineers walked four times and were hit by a pitch on six occasions, three of which hit junior Skylar King, tying a WVU single-game record. It is the sixth time in program history that a WVU team has been hit at least six times in a game.
 
The game on Friday was scoreless into the fifth inning until sophomore Spencer Barnett got WVU on the board with a sacrifice fly. UCF tied up the game in the home half with an unearned run.
 
A sacrifice fly from senior Brodie Kresser in the seventh and another from junior Sam White in the eighth put the Mountaineers back in front before senior Jace Rinehart added some insurance with an RBI groundout.
 
In the bottom of the eighth, sophomore Chase Meyer worked himself in and out of trouble as he loaded the bases with no outs but got back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout to squash the scoring opportunity.
 
UCF got a runner on in the ninth before WVU's third double play of the night ended the game and secured the victory.
 
Redshirt senior Griffin Kirn allowed just one unearned run in 4.2 innings. Senior Reese Bassinger improved to 5-0 with 1.2 scoreless innings. Meyer followed with 1.2 scoreless innings before junior Carson Estridge threw a scoreless ninth for his fourth save. West Virginia's team ERA fell to 3.57, improving upon its Big 12's leading mark.
 
The two teams will meet again on Saturday with first pitch set for 6 p.m.
 
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