No. 11 West Virginia Crushes Oklahoma in Series Opener

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (35-11, 12-4) hammered the Oklahoma Sooners (25-21, 9-10) Friday night, 9-3.

Landon Wallace put the Mountaineers on the board, blasting the 2-2 pitch opposite field for a two-run home run and an early 2-0 WVU advantage.

Oklahoma's Bryce Madron cut the WVU lead in half with a well lifted solo home run over the right field wall in the top of the third.

West Virginia answered in the bottom of the inning when, with one out and two on, Grant Hussey drove the ball over the Sooners left fielder for an RBI double and freshman Ellis Garcia hit a line drive back up the middle for a base hit and a pair of RBIs as the Mountaineers grabbed a 5-1 advantage.

West Virginia added a pair of runs in the fifth. Braden Barry drove a leadoff double into the left-centerfield gap, Dayne Leonard brought Barry home with a base hit into left field and Grant Hussey collected his second RBI double of the evening as the Mountaineers took a commanding 7-1 lead.

Tevin Tucker led off the bottom of the sixth taking the 3-1 pitch in the back of the shoulder, he proceeded to steal second before Braden Barry ripped a hard ground ball into the hole, Oklahoma shortstop Dakota Harris made the stop on a diving an effort, but Barry beat the throw to first for the RBI single and an 8-1 West Virginia advantage.

Oklahoma reliever Kale Davis gave the Mountaineers an assurance run in the seventh after Grant Hussey worked a leadoff walk, and Ellis Garcia followed with a one-out double to place runners at second and third before a wild pitch scored Hussey.

Ben Hampton went six innings and allowed one Sooner run and registered three strikeouts.

Sophomore Aidan Major came in relief in the seventh and found himself in trouble in the eighth, allowing a pair of runs with no outs but got out of the jam, retiring three consecutive Sooners and came away unscathed in the ninth for the 9-3 West Virginia victory.

The Mountaineer will look to clinch the series Saturday afternoon with the first pitch set for 4:00 p.m. EST and streaming on ESPN+.

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