West Virginia baseball looked to repeat as Big 12 regular-season champions. But the repeat started on a sour note, ending a three-game winning streak.
The Mountaineers lost the opening game of the series against Baylor 7-6 to start conference play. WVU lost its fourth game of the season (11-4), and the Bears won their 11th (11-6).
WVU’s get-back game is slated for March 14 at 3 p.m. The final game is on March 15 at noon, and both games are streamed on ESPN+.
It was a back-and-forth game, but Baylor had a big fourth inning, taking the lead back from the Mountaineers. Relief pitcher Reese Bassinger came in for Dawson Montesa, hoping to get out of a sticky situation. It started off with Cade Dodson singling to right field to start the run. Then, Bassinger allowed two more hits, scoring three more. Baylor took the lead 5-4. Tyce Armstrong capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly, adding to the lead, 6-4. Armstrong was the talk of the opening week, hitting three grand slams in one game.
In the fifth, Carson Estridge came in to try to stop the bleeding, but he allowed another run, making it a 7-4 game.
Montesa got the nod for the first Big 12 game of the season. Montesa, who played at the Division II level last year, struggled a little bit to start conference play. He worked himself into trouble in the first two innings. Montesa minimized the damage, but he allowed one in the second.
In the third, Montesa started to lose his touch. He finished his first start in the conference and had six walks, allowed three runs, two hits and only struck out one. Chansen Cole and Maxx Yehl are starting the next two.
The Mountaineers provided some run support, too. Steve Sabins and WVU used some small ball to get things started. Armani Guzman singled on a bunt, and Tyrus Hall had a sacrifice bunt to score another. WVU was up 4-1 early.
Sean Smith led the team in hitting. He had a homer late, cutting the lead to 7-5. He went 3-for-4 with an RBI. The rest of the run production came from the bottom of the order, in Hall and Guzman. Matt Ineich also had two hits.
After Montesa, Bassinger and Estridge let up seven runs combined, Sabins went to Mac Stiffler. Stiffler has had his ups and downs to start the season. He had a nice outing recently against Maryland. He shut Baylor down. Stiffler pitched 1.2 innings, had one hit and three strikeouts, closing out the game.
WVU tried to make a late surge. Smith had the homer in the sixth, and then Ineich homered in the top of the ninth, making it 7-6. But it wasn’t enough.
Baylor took the first game and held the Mountaineers under 10 runs. In the past two games, WVU hit at least 10 runs.
The Bears are a tested foe. Baylor has played against multiple ranked opponents early this season, including Texas and Oregon State, and even beat No. 11 Ole Miss at the time.
The Mountaineers have lost the first game of the series before. WVU lost the opener to Columbia, and then won the next two. The Mountaineers needed a Brodie Kresser grand slam in extra innings to help win that series. Now, WVU could use something similar to keep its undefeated series streak alive.
