No. 22 West Virginia Holds Off Jacksonville On Opening Day

The No. 22 ranked West Virginia Mountaineer baseball team started the 2018 season off the right way, with a 5-4 win over the Jacksonville University Dolphins in Jacksonville, Florida.

The Mountaineers drew first blood in the fourth inning when Jimmy Galusky singled to left field, driving Chase Illig in for his first RBI of the season. West Virginia didn’t let up, scoring three more runs in the inning to take a 4-0 lead. Jacksonville didn’t waste a lot of time, and scored three runs of their own - including a two-run shot to right field by Dolphin left fielder Connor Stephens.

Illig gave the Mountaineers a little bit of a cushion with a solo homer to right center for his second run of the game, to put West Virginia up 5-3 in the fifth inning.

Starting pitcher BJ Myers allowed the Dolphins to score four runs on four hits through 4.1 innings before he was pulled for senior right-hander Shane Ennis. Ennis picked up the win for the Mountaineers, allowing no runs and only two hits in 2.1 innings pitched. Sophomore closer Sam Kessler pitched the final two outs of the game to pick up his first career save.

West Virginia will continue the series with Jacksonville on Saturday. That game is set to start at 2:00PM.