The hot streak continued for the WVU baseball team as the Mountaineers picked up a sweep of William & Mary over the weekend.
West Virginia came from behind twice against the Tribe in a Friday doubleheader then brushed off the visitors for a dominant win on Sunday.
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After all was said and done, the Mountaineers improved to 31-19 on the season. The win was the WVU baseball team’s ninth in a row and it was the 12th win in the past 13 tries.
This is certainly the best time of the year for West Virginia to be playing its best baseball. Wins are wins and they are coming at the right time.
What’s nice about this current win streak is that it seems like the WVU lineup is beginning to gel together better than it had at the beginning of the season. The Mountaineers have utilized a youth movement and the underclassmen are coming through after feeling each other out for the first couple of months in the season.
The WVU baseball team has gained team chemistry by collecting hits, scoring runs and receiving ample pitching performances on the mound.
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As the Mountaineers polished off the Tribe, 6-1, on Sunday, they utilized six pitchers. It wasn’t that any were in trouble on the mound, it was just a way for head coach Randy Mazey to get his hurlers some extra experience.
Starter Conner Dotson went five innings, allowing just four hits and five walks. From there, Jeff Hardy, Shane Ennis, Endy Morales, Jacob Brewer and BJ Myers combined to allow just two hits through the next four innings. Every one of those pitchers also had at least one strikeout.
At the plate over the three game series, the WVU baseball team collected 33 hits, with at least 10 in each contest. Individually, leading hitters Jackson Cramer had five hits in the series; Darius Hill had five as well; KC Huth had four and Kyle Davis had four.
In Game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader, the Mountaineers scored eight unanswered runs to win 8-7 in 10 innings and then scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning for a dramatic 7-6 win in that nightcap.
West Virginia’s current nine-game winning streak is the longest Mazey has experienced in his four years as the team’s skipper.
"“They’re fun to watch,” Mazey said. “I think they understand that there’s a direct correlation to playing hard and playing well. They’ve grasped the concept of playing hard. When you have a bunch of young kids understand that concept, over the course of time, they’re going to get pretty good.“Our guys have really stepped up against good teams lately. We had six wins in a row against Power Five conference teams. They like playing against teams like that, the fans come out for games like that. The atmosphere for games like that is really good.”"
The home slate is now over for the Mountaineers as they look to keep up the hot streak. First, the Mountaineers have a short road trip to Pittsburgh to take on the rival Panthers on Tuesday. Then, WVU travels to Texas Tech over the weekend to take on the top team in the Big 12 Conference.
The way the Mountaineers are playing right now, they can beat any team in the country. They’ll have to start by taking on a regional and conference rivals to prove this streak is not a fluke.