No. 17 West Virginia baseball won the back-and-forth battle with Texas Tech in Lubbock Friday night, needing a big six-run ninth inning to do so.
With bases loaded in the top of the ninth and the score tied 6-6, Matthew Graveline, who had the walk-off single against UCF, dropped in a two-run single to start a six-run ninth to hand the Mountaineers a 12-8 win over the Red Raiders to take Game 1 of the three-game series.
WVU moved to 23-7 on the year and 9-4 in the Big 12. Texas Tech fell to 19-14 on the year and 5-8 in the conference. Saturday’s game is set for 1 p.m. and is on ESPN+.
After Graveline’s late single, the Mountaineers continued to tack on runs with some bad pitching from Texas Tech. The Red Raiders walked a couple of batters and hit Gavin Kelly. Texas Tech ended up walking in a run, 9-6. Then, Matt Ineich, who batted first in the inning, hit one down the line to clear the bases, blowing the game open 12-6.
Ineich led the team with the three RBIs and went 1-for-6 on the night. Tyrus Hall and Paul Schoenfeld led the offense with three hits apiece. Hall helped score the first two runs on a single and scored the second while he was stealing. Kelly kept his bat hot and had two hits as well. WVU totaled 14 hits in Game 1.
The Mountaineers six-run ninth inning completed another late comeback, which started in the final three innings.
WVU went with Dawson Montesa as its Friday night starter. Montesa has been shaky in his last few outings. He’s allowed 14 runs in his last four starts, and WVU’s lost the past two games he’s been on the mound. Montesa allowed a few hits in the early innings, but limited damage was done until the bottom of the fifth.
Montesa allowed two doubles, which scored four runs for Texas Tech to retake the lead 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Head coach Steve Sabins kept his starter out there, despite the five earned runs. He pitched two more innings and went scoreless in those two. He finished with five earned runs, 11 hits, walked two and struck out five.
Down two runs, WVU had to climb back, and the comeback started in the seventh inning. Kelly singled to record his RBI, and Sean Smith doubled to bring in two more, making it 6-5 WVU.
After Montesa was pulled, Reese Bassinger came in for just an out and allowed a run. David Perez came in for relief and finished the inning off. He came back out for the bottom of the ninth. Texas Tech made it interesting with Perez not having his command that he’s shown so far in his freshman year. Perez let up a single and a double to make it 12-7. He walked a batter, and that was enough for Sabins to pull him. Perez, who usually picks up a couple of strikeouts, couldn’t get one in his full inning.
Sabins relied on Carson Estridge to close it out. Estridge picked up the final two outs, but still the Red Raiders tacked on another.
Texas Tech had 15 hits, which was one more than WVU, but the Mountaineers had more walks with seven. WVU has Maxx Yehl on the mound for Game 2. Yehl will take the mound after one of his more “human” starts, as Sabins called it, where UCF scored five runs on him.
