Saturday, February 21
Lynchburg, Va.
1:00 PM
West Virginia University
5-0
2
at
0
Liberty
2-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
West Virginia
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
7
0
Liberty
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
0
Mountaineers Split Doubleheader at Liberty to Claim Series
February 21, 2026 09:04 PM | Baseball
LYNCHBURG, Va. – The No. 25 West Virginia University baseball team split a doubleheader at Liberty on Saturday, winning the first game, 2-0, before dropping the series finale, 4-1. The Mountaineers go to 5-1 on the season while the Flames are now 3-3.
The Mountaineers tossed their second straight shutout to begin the day. Redshirt junior Maxx Yehl started with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings while allowing just one hit before giving way to graduate student Ian Korn, who went 3.0 scoreless with two strikeouts. Senior Carson Estridge had one strikeout in 0.2 innings before freshman David Perez closed out the game with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings to earn his second save.
After four scoreless innings, graduate student Sean Smith put the Mountaineers on top with an RBI double in the fifth. Another run came home in the sixth for WVU on a double play.
The Flames' biggest threat came in the eighth when they had two on and two outs, but Perez came out of the bullpen and struck out former Mountaineer Nick Barone to escape the jam. Perez then finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
In game two, Mountaineer pitchers allowed only two hits in the game, two of just eight given up in the entire series. Unfortunately, one of the hits was a bases-loaded triple in the second inning to put Liberty up early.
Sophomore Matt Ineich pushed across WVU's run in the fifth with a double to score senior Brock Wills, who had three hits in game two. WVU had a chance in the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs, but three straight strikeouts ended the contest.
West Virginia will play its home opener on Wednesday, Feb. 25, against Ohio. First pitch from Kendrick Family Ballpark is set for 1 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
The Mountaineers tossed their second straight shutout to begin the day. Redshirt junior Maxx Yehl started with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings while allowing just one hit before giving way to graduate student Ian Korn, who went 3.0 scoreless with two strikeouts. Senior Carson Estridge had one strikeout in 0.2 innings before freshman David Perez closed out the game with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings to earn his second save.
After four scoreless innings, graduate student Sean Smith put the Mountaineers on top with an RBI double in the fifth. Another run came home in the sixth for WVU on a double play.
The Flames' biggest threat came in the eighth when they had two on and two outs, but Perez came out of the bullpen and struck out former Mountaineer Nick Barone to escape the jam. Perez then finished the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
In game two, Mountaineer pitchers allowed only two hits in the game, two of just eight given up in the entire series. Unfortunately, one of the hits was a bases-loaded triple in the second inning to put Liberty up early.
Sophomore Matt Ineich pushed across WVU's run in the fifth with a double to score senior Brock Wills, who had three hits in game two. WVU had a chance in the ninth with the bases loaded and no outs, but three straight strikeouts ended the contest.
West Virginia will play its home opener on Wednesday, Feb. 25, against Ohio. First pitch from Kendrick Family Ballpark is set for 1 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Yehl, Maxx (1-0)
L: J. Lucas (0-1)
S: Perez, David (2)
Batting:
2B: Schoenfeld, Paul 1 ; Smith, Sean 1
RBI: Smith, Sean 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kelly, Gavin 1 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 1
SB: Guzman, Armani 1
Base Running:
CS: T. Marsh 1
HBP: R. Drumm 1 ; D. Grabowski 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
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