West Virginia Takes Game 1 from Youngstown State

The Mountaineers steal game one from the Penguins

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (11-8) defeated the Youngstown State Penguins (9-12) 6-4 Friday evening with Zach Bravo picking up his first win of the season in relief and Trey Braithwaite collected his first save of the year. 

J.J. Wetherholt put the Mountaineers on the board first with a solo home run into the Penguins bullpen in the first inning.

Youngstown State put three runs in the top of the second after Braeden O'Shaughnessy hit a leadoff single followed by a base hit from Padraig O'Shaughnessy before Andre Good plated them with a triple. Steven D'Eusanio drove the ball to right field, scoring Good on the sacrifice fly. 

The Penguins added another run in the third, extending the lead 4-1. 

West Virginia loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning but only mustered a run after Grant Hussey drove a sacrifice fly into left field. 

The Mountaineers tied the game in the fifth after Austin Davis worked a one-out walk, Wetherholt singled into rightfield, placing runners at the corners. Davis took home on a wild pitch, and with the bases loaded, reliever Alex Cardona walked in the tying run. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Victor Scott led off the inning with a walk at the bottom of the seventh. He was awarded second on a balk and moved to third on a fly ball from McGwire Holbrook. Then, on the 1-2 pitch, Scott made a move for the plate, the throw was in time, but the ball popped out of catcher Dylan Warmer's glove on the tag as West Virginia regained the lead 5-4. 

"That's how we win.," said head coach Randy Mazey. "We run, we force the defense to things, and when those guys are on base, even when they don't steal, the force the pitcher to do different things."

West Virginia added some cushion with a run in the eighth when Braden Barry worked a leadoff walk, Mikey Kluska bunted Barry to second and then advanced to third on a wild pitch before Tevin Tucker laid down a bunt for the fielder's choice RBI. 

After giving up four runs on four hits in three innings, relievers Chris Sleeper, Zach Bravo and Trey Braithwaite combined for six scoreless innings and only allowed four hits. 

"When you're down 4-1 in the third inning and come back to win 6-4, that credit goes to the bullpen because if they get to 5-1 or 6-1 it makes it way more difficult, so being able to hold them right there, was huge for us."

West Virginia and Youngstown State will wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader on Friday. The first pitch is set for 11:00 am and the series finale will begin about 40 minutes following the conclusion of game one. 

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