Mazey Undeterred from Lopsided Loss to Ohio State
Ohio State thumped West Virginia in game three 26-11 Sunday afternoon, marking the first series loss of this season for the Mountaineers. The 26 runs were the most given up during the Mazey era and only the third time Mazey's Mountaineers gave up 20 or runs in a contest, both during the 2021 season after the team was decimated by the transfer portal.
"Over the course of a long season, you're going to play all kinds of games. You're going to play games where you get blown out in, and you're going to play games where you blow the other team out,” said WVU head coach Randy Mazey. “[It’s] Just the law of averages, over a course of 56 games tells you you're going to be on both sides of the game like that. Ohio State lost 19-2 last weekend to a team, so they've been on both sides it and we’ll be on both sides of it. But I told him (the team) that the coaches from Ohio State before the game said, ‘we've played Arizona State, we’ve played BYU, we've played Oklahoma,’ and said, ‘You guys are better than all of those teams.’
“I really feel like we have a good team but once the game starts, it doesn't matter. It's who plays the best and we just can't walk so many guys. We're not the type of offense right now, as we are, to try and play catch up.”
West Virginia University Baseball head coach Randy Mazey
Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: FanNation - Mountaineers Now
West Virginia has dealt with a list of injuries, most notably the best player in college baseball, JJ Wetherholt. He’s been out of the lineup since the first inning in the fourth game of the season.
The team’s leading hitter, sophomore Logan Sauve, has missed the last eight games after hitting a team-high .317 with three home runs and nine RBIs.
JUCO transfer Brodie Kresser has been in and out of the lineup and missed the series finale after leaving game two against Ohio State in the middle of an at bat, and Grant Hussey has returned as the designated hitter over the weekend and is nearing 100%. The junior has a team-best four home runs.
“We're just not built right now as we are to win high scoring games,” said Mazey. “We can win low scoring games, but high scoring games don't suit us very well.”
The Mountaineers were 1-4 when their opponents score seven or more runs on the year going into Sunday with lone win coming against Charlotte, 12-8, in the second series of the season and the eight runs were a season-high till Sunday. Additionally, of the Mountaineers’ nine losses, five have come by one run.
Pitching has been a strength of the Mountaineers this season. The team ERA heading into Sunday was 3.67 which was top 15 in the country but since the 26-run lapse, West Virginia has fallen out of the top 50 at 74th with a team ERA of 4.84.
West Virginia will look to get back in the win column Wednesday night as the Mountaineers host the Marshall Thundering Herd. WVU took the first meeting of the season last week 11-2 in Charleston for the seventh consecutive series win. First pitch is set for 6:35 and the action will stream on ESPN+.