Mountaineers Stumble in Series Finale, Falling to Liberty 4-1

West Virginia dropped its first game of the season Saturday night. The Mountaineers (5-1) fell behind early and after shutting out Liberty in the first two games, the Flames (3-3) captured an early 3-0 lead and the WVU bats that produced 12 runs on Friday night, were held to one run to fall 4-1 in the second game of a doubleheader.

West Virginia starting pitcher Dawson Montesa got himself in a jam in the bottom of the second inning after beaning a pair of Liberty hitters and walking another, then on the 2-2 pitch, junior Tanner Marsh smacked a line drive to shallow centerfield and under the glove of a diving Armani Guzman and rolled to the wall for a three-run triple.

For the third consecutive game, West Virginia produced its first runs in the fifth. Senior Brock Wills hit a hard groundball back up the middle, stopped by shortstop Tanner Marsh behind the bag at second base, but not on time or on target for the single. Brodie Kresser followed with a line drive to left field before sophomore Matt Ineich dropped a high fly ball to left field that hopped over the wall for a ground rule double, scoring Wills.

Montesa tossed four innings and recorded seven strikeouts and handed the ball to junior reliever Chase Meyer.

Meyer would go two innings, but in the sixth, Liberty added a run after Landon Scilley worked a full count walk. The sophomore took second on a wild pitch, then stole third before John Simmons hit an RBI sacrifice fly ball to right field for a 4-1 lead.

In the top of the ninth, the Mountaineers loaded the bases, following singles from senior Matthew Graveline and Wills and Kresser received a walk with no outs on the board. After Liberty senior reliever fell behind 2-0 on the count, head coach Bradley LeCroy called graduate senior Jake Potts from the bullpen and he delivered three consecutive strikeouts, leaving the Mountaineers stranded and capturing his first save of the season as Liberty salvages the series and avoids the sweep with a 4-1 win.

West Virginia is back in action on Wednesday for the first home game of the season as the Mountaineers will tangle with the Ohio Bobcats. The first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. EST and the action will stream on ESPN+.