Four Homeruns Doom WVU Baseball 10-5

The Mountaineers, coming off a dominating performance Friday night, continue to allow teams to score off unearned runs and poor defense. The West Virginia Mountaineers committed three errors on Saturday, leading to two unearned runs. They have committed 9 errors on the season leading to 5 unearned runs already.

The game started with an Austin Davis single. A Vince Ippoliti single would push Davis to third and a Victor Scott fly out would plate the games first run. Starting pitcher Adam Tulloch started strong, striking out the first two Coastal Carolina Chanticleers he faced then a HBP, stolen base and throwing error allowed CCU to tie the game.

In the third inning, the Mountaineers would get Austin Davis to third base but would strand him there, one of 6 Mountaineers left on base. In the fourth, the Mountaineers would once again threaten when Dominic Ragazzo would reach third base but would once against be stranded there. The Chanticleers would finally break through against Tulloch in the fourth, who was cruising at that point. Following his eighth strike out of the game, Coastal would hit back-to-back homeruns to take a 3-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth inning, West Virginia would tie the game after Braden Barry singled and stole second, one of four stolen bases for the Mountaineers. Matt McCormick would bring him home with a two-out, two-strike double. Ippoliti would tie the game with a single and he took second on the throw home. Victor Scott would give the Mountaineers their second lead of the game with a single to centerfield. Scott advanced to second on a miscue by the centerfielder.

Adam Tulloch got two quick outs in the bottom of the fifth but then allowed a single to Nick Lucky. A two-run homer would give CCU a 5-4 lead. The Mountaineers would once again tie the game at 5 when Mikey Kluska walked and took second on a poor pickoff attempt. He took third on a wild pitch and then scored on a groundball. From there, it would be all Coastal Carolina.

Coastal took the lead when pitcher Zach Ottinger fielded a bunt and overthrew first base allowing Nick Lucky to score. Another run would score on a single making it 7-5. A two-run shot in the eighth inning proved to be the death knell as the Mountaineers couldn’t mount any offense in the late innings.

Overall, West Virginia tallied 8 hits but only one extra base hit. West Virginia stole four bases, giving them 12 on the season. WVU did not steal a base in their first three games but have stolen at least two bases in each of their past three games, including 6 on Friday night. Five of CCU’s 10 hits went for extra bases, including the four home runs.

West Virginia will finish the CCU Tournament tomorrow when they take on Bryant Bulldogs tomorrow. Following Sunday’s game the Mountaineers will have a 15-game homestand, spending all of March at Monogalia County Ballpark.