West Virginia baseball earns another series sweep against James Madison

WVU baseball swept James Madison in a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Mountaineers have now swept their fourth series in 2025.

The Mountaineers improved their record to 18-1, claiming victory in two games against JMU (7-14). WVU is on a five-game win series heading into the weekend series against Arizona. When Arizona comes to town, it will be the first full Big 12 series that WVU will play. Last weekend, two games against Oklahoma State were canceled due to wildfires in the Stillwater area. WVU was able to win the only game that was able to be played on Sunday.

Game One on Tuesday was decided by a 10-run mercy rule in the eighth inning when WVU opened up to an 11-1 win. Game Two was much closer finishing in a final score of 3-1. The two games had drastic differences in how the Mountaineers were able to win. In Game One, WVU was able to score a lot of their runs on a lot of free passes given to WVU hitters, as well as a Grant Hussey home run.

WVU extends their winning streak to five games before taking on Big 12 opponent Arizona

During Game One, WVU used 11 walks to push across 11 runs. JMU pitching staff struggled to throw strikes and the Mountaineer took advantage. WVU was able to pile nine hits up as well, so it was not just all walks that contributed to scoring runs for the WVU offense. Hussey, the all-time program leader in home runs, was able to hit his 40th career home run on a three-run blast in the first inning. Using Hussey’s bomb in the first inning, the Mountaineers were able to put up eight runs. The explosive offense allowed head coach Steve Sabins to use a lot of his bench to let other hitters get some live at-bats.

Ontario, Canada, native Sam White was the only Mountaineer to record more than one hit as he went 2-3 with two runs scored. White continues to find ways to contribute to this offense.

Freshman pitcher Mac Stiffler picked up the win in Game One. Stiffler, who was a three-sport athlete in high school, had a very solid three innings of work only allowing one run with three strikeouts. Stiffler struggled with command as he walked four batters in only three innings pitched.

For Game Two, pitching was the name of the game in why WVU won. Mountaineer pitchers again only allowed one run, and that was very important as the offense was not really able to get going.

Another freshman rising star, David Hagen had a fantastic night on the mound. Hagen worked five innings, only allowing one run and one hit, collecting four strikeouts, and did not issue any walks. Hagen was very much in control of this game, and it was very needed as the offense struggled to get much going.

In relief for WVU, Reese Bassinger and Jack Kartsonas keep the door shut on the JMU offense. Bassinger posted 2.1 innings pitched, two strikeouts, four hits allowed, and no runs or walks allowed. Kartsonas earned the save for his 1.2 innings pitched with no runs, hits, or walks allowed and he picked up four strikeouts.

Kresser’s sacrifice fly that scored Kyle West in the third, was the only one that WVU scored after putting the ball in play. Sam White had a rare straight steal of home in the fourth. White took off sprinting towards home from third and was able to zoom his way home before a tag was able to be applied. Jace “Rhino” Rinehart scored the final run of the day in the same inning when he was able to touch home plate safely after a passed ball.

Helping Mountaineer pitchers out, in the sixth inning Skylar King made a Superman-style diving catch in center field to keep the JMU with only one run. King’s amazing diving catch stranded one runner on for reliever Bassinger. Earlier in the same inning, Bassinger was able to pick a base runner off at second after giving up a double. Two great defensive plays kept at least one if not two runs off the board for JMU.

WVU continues their homestead as the Arizona Wildcats come to Morgantown for a three-game Big 12 conference series. For WVU, Griffin Kirn, Gavin Van Kempen, and Carson Estridge have been announced as the three starters for the series beginning on Friday. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+.