West Virginia baseball couldn't have asked for a better start to their weekend.
The Mountaineers (24-16, 12-7) returned to Kendrick Family Ballpark for the first contest of a three-game weekend series with Big 12 rival Baylor, packing over 3,700 fans into the park. With a large crowd in attendance, WVU provided an entertaining show from the jump with a hot night at the plate.
They outperformed the Bears (19-21, 9-10) when at-bat 12-8 in number of total hits -- junior duo JJ Wetherholt and Kyle West each recorded one home run while Wetherholt and senior Reed Chumley combined for nine RBIs as the Mountaineers cruised to an 18-5 victory to open the series. West joins Chumley as the second WVU player to record double-digit home runs this year, securing his tenth overall on the season.
In an explosive start, Baylor's Enzo Apodaca homered on the first at-bat of the evening, allowing Baylor to draw first blood. The Bears ran out to a 2-0 lead before relinquishing the plate to WVU -- the Mountaineers retaliated by dropping four runs on top of Baylor to close the first inning, and piled on with six more before the second inning had ended.
The Mountaineers will be back in action against Baylor tomorrow afternoon in hopes to secure the series win before the final game is played -- first pitch is set for 4 p.m. local time. The action will also be streamed live on Big 12 Now on the ESPN+ app.