MORGANTOWN — West Virginia completed its fourth consecutive three-game sweep of a Big 12 opponent, as the 14th-ranked Mountaineers held off UCF 4-3 on Sunday inside John Euliano Park in Orlando, Fla.
WVU (37-5, 16-3 Big 12) took the lead for good in the fifth inning, after Jace Rineart scored two with a double and then scored on Sam White’s RBI single. That gave the Mountaineers a 4-2 lead.
UCF (23-20, 6-15) scored a run in the sixth on DeAmez Ross’ RBI single, but the Knights were held scoreless from there.
Jack Kartsonas and Ben McDougal were the stars on the mound for the Mountaineers. Kartsonas started and pitched into the seventh inning. He allowed nine hits and three runs and struck out five to earn his fifth win of the season. McDougal came on with a runner on in the seventh and got Edian Espinal to pop out to end that threat. McDougal then pitched perfect 1-2-3 innings in the eighth and ninth to preserve the win and record his first save of the season.
Rineart finished with two hits and three RBIs in the game and Skylar King scored twice.
WVU will enter next week’s series against Texas Tech with at least a two-game advantage in the Big 12 standings. Only three Big 12 series remain in the regular season, with WVU scheduled to host Kansas on the final weekend of the regular season in what appears to be the series that could decide the conference title.
In its midweek game, WVU will travel to Charleston at 6 p.m. Wednesday to face Marshall inside GoMart Ballpark.
Saturday’s game
WVU 15, UCF 10
West Virginia’s offense had quite a turnaround, as Kyle West and Brodie Kresser each had three hits and Benjamin Lumsden added a three-run home run to lead the Mountaineers to their fifth consecutive Big 12 series victory.
A day after beating the Knights, 4-1, while recording just one hit, the Mountaineers took an early 5-0 lead and scored 15 runs on 13 hits.
Gavin Kelly finished with three RBIs, including a base hit that scored two in the first inning that got the Mountaineers going. Grant Hussey added an RBI double and Kresser had a run-scoring base hit in the inning.
UCF answered with four runs in the bottom of the first, including a three-run homer from Andrew Sundean that chased off WVU starter Gavin Van Kempen.
WVU’s bullpen did just enough for the Mountaineers, who used seven relievers to get the final 26 outs. They allowed six runs, but also forced the Knights to strand 16 runners on base. Chase Meyer picked up his eighth victory of the season. He left with one out in the eighth inning, giving way for Carson Estridge to pick up his fifth save of the season.
WVU trailed, 8-7, heading into the eighth inning. Hussey led it off reaching on a fielding error and Kresser singled. Spencer Barnett sacrificed both runners over and Jace Rineart walked to load the bases.
Skylar King ripped a double down the third-base line that scored two runs and Rineart scored on Armani Guzman’s bunt. King scored on Logan Sauve’s ground ball that gave WVU an 11-8 lead.
WVU added four more in the ninth on Lumsden’s home run and an RBI single from Kresser.
