No. 13 West Virginia Handles Arizona in Midweek Matchup

The No. 13 West Virginia Mountaineers (20-5) wrapped up their trip to the desert with a 7-4 over the Arizona Wildcats (9-19) Tuesday night in Tucson (AZ).

West Virginia starting pitcher Chansen Cole walked Arizona freshman Joe Forbes with two outs on the board before sophomore Carson McEntire hammered the 1-0 pitch well over the left field wall for the 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning.

The Mountaineers responded in the top the third. After walks were issued to sophomore Matt Ineich, to lead off the inning, and senior Paul Schoenfeld. With two outs, the first pitch delivered to senior Brock Wills hit the dirt and skipped away from freshman catcher Jackson Forbes, allowing Ineich to score from second. Then, Wills hit a slow chopper in the hole to second and it bounced off the glove of freshman Nate Novitske, letting the tying run cross home plate.

West Virginia loaded the bases in the fourth after senior Matthew Graveline worked a leadoff walk, junior Armani Guzman followed with a single and junior Tyrus Hall battle back from a 1-2 count for a walk. Arizona reliever Maclain Roberts entered the game and on the first pitch, it sailed outside off the glove of Forbes for the go-ahead run. Sophomore Gavin Kelly received a walk to reload the bases before Schoenfeld was beaned to bring in another run. Senior Sean Smith capped the three-run fourth, bringing in a run with a ground out to third for a 5-2 advantage.

West Virginia added a pair of runs in the fifth when Guzman reached on a base hit to left field, Hall received a four-pitch walk and the duo advanced on a double steal before Ineich beat the shift with an RBI single off the end of his bat, beating the shift through short for a 7-2 lead.

After three innings from Cole, right-handed reliever Carson Estridge took the mound. The senior struck out five and allowed one hit before giving three consecutive singles to load the bases in the sixth. WVU head coach Steve Sabins called out to the bullpen for senior Reese Bassinger. A run crossed on a wild pitch well outside of the strike zone to cut the Mountaineer advantage to four, 7-3.

The Wildcats inched closer in the eighth after an RBI double from McEntire, but that's all Arizona could muster as the Mountaineers took the 7-4 decision.

West Virginia is back in action Friday night in the first of a three-game series with the UCF Knight with the first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. EST. Game two is on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. EST and the series finale is scheduled for Sunday at noon.