West Virginia Downs Dallas Baptist in Tucson Regional

Tucson, Arizona – The West Virginia Mountaineers (34-22) knocked off the Dallas Baptist Patriots (44-14) Friday afternoon in game one of the Tucson Region in the NCAA baseball tournament 4-1.

West Virginia senior starting pitcher Derek Clark collected his eighth win of the season after throwing nine innings and eight strike outs.

West Virginia grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning when Dallas Baptist starting pitcher Ryan Johnsons walked sophomore Benjamin Lumsden and beaned junior JJ Wetherholt before sophomore Logan Sauve lifted the first pitch 435 feet over the centerfield wall for the three-run advantage.

The Mountaineers added a run in the sixth after Sauve hit a leadoff single, sophomore Sam White followed with a base hit to right field and senior Reed Chumley dropped an RBI double into left field for a 4-0 lead.

Derek Clark tossed seven scoreless innings, but the bats of Dallas Baptist produced a run in the eighth. Clark beaned Humphreys to lead off the inning before Pendergast drove a one-hop double off the left field wall, then Heefner hit the sacrifice RBI fly ball to left field to cut into the Mountaineer lead and that’s all the Patriots could muster as Clark retired six straight to end the game for the 4-1 decision.

West Virginia will play the winner of the host team Arizona and Grand Canyon Saturday night at approximately 10:00 p.m. EST.

Arizona and Grand Canyon square off Friday night at 9:00 p.m. EST with the action streaming on ESPN+.