MORGANTOWN — West Virginia got its first taste of the Big 12’s best hitter in Landon Hairston and the 17th-ranked Mountaineers saw their six-game winning streak end following a 14-4 loss against No. 22 Arizona State on Friday night.
The Sun Devils (20-6, 5-2 Big 12) improved to 16-1 this season inside Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., as Hairston blasted two home runs. One of them was a grand slam that broke the game open in the fourth inning. Arizona State’s left fielder finished 3 for 4 with eight RBIs.
It all allowed the Sun Devils to take the first game of a three-game series in a game that ended after eight innings due to the mercy rule. It was the first time WVU (17-5, 5-2) has been mercy ruled since April 23, 2022, in a 12-2 loss against Texas Tech.
Game 2 of the series is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Saturday (ESPN+) and Hairston will enter that game leading the Big 12 in batting average (.470) and is third in the conference with 13 home runs.
In what was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, WVU took a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning when Gavin Kelly ripped a double to left field to score Matt Ineich from first base.
Hairston, the son of former major leaguer Scott Hairston, tied the game in the bottom of the first with a solo home run.
In the second inning, Sean Smith had an RBI single for the Mountaineers that gave WVU a 2-1 lead, which stood until the fourth inning.
WVU starting pitcher Dawson Montesa was still in the game at that point, but Nuu Contrades hit a 440-foot home run to left to begin the inning, which was followed by singles from Austen Roellig and Dominic Smaldino. Brody Briggs walked to load the bases and Ky McGary also walked for an RBI, before WVU head coach Steve Sabins went to Bryson Thacker out of the bullpen.
Thacker got four pitches in before Hairston hit the grand slam that gave the Sun Devils a 7-2 lead.
WVU did score a run in the fifth inning on Brodie Kresser’s RBI double and added another run in the sixth on Kelly’s second RBI double of the game, but by that time, Arizona State had already taken control.
Kelly finished 2 for 4 for WVU to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Paul Schoenfeld also had two hits for the Mountaineers to extend his hitting streak to 12 games. Both WVU and Arizona State finished with 13 hits each. Smith finished with three hits for the Mountaineers.
The main difference was WVU pitchers combined to also allow nine walks and hit three more batters, while Arizona State pitchers only walked two and hit one batter.
WVU also stranded 11 runners on base.
Montesa (3-3) was charged with the loss. He went 3.1 innings, allowed five hits, six runs and walked four. WVU used seven relief pitchers behind him and they combined to give up eight more runs and two more home runs.
Arizona State relief pitcher Taylor Penn (4-0) earned the win. He pitched 2.2 innings, allowed five hits and one run.
