Despite holding a ninth-inning lead on their home diamond, WVU baseball suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday. The Mountaineer pitching staff had a rough outing in the loss, failing to hold the Kennesaw State under double-digit runs on the day
The Mountaineers (13-1) held a 9-7 lead entering the final inning of the matchup, but gave up six runs on two homers in the top of the ninth -- including one Grand Slam. The end result was Kennesaw State (7-9) leaving Morgantown with a 13-9 win.
Kennesaw State opened the scoring up with a two-run double in the first off starter Gavin Van Kempen. Van Kempen showed signs of bouncing back after the two-run double, retiring five straight hitters. WVU’s offense responded, seeing 2025 Big 12 Preseason Team catcher Logan Sauve hit his first home run of the season with a solo shot in the bottom of the first.
Kennesaw State ran out to a 4-1 lead through the first two and a half innings before WVU used a five-run third inning to help their cause. To start the scoring, Sauve drew a bases-loaded walk that scored Grant Hussey, making it 4-2 in favor of Kennesaw State.
Next up to the plate, junior Sam White extended his hitting streak to 11 games when he drove in two runs on a single, drawing a temporary tie to the score at four apiece. Jace Rinehart also got involved in the scoring when he hit into a sacrifice groundout, bringing Sauve across the plate and giving the Mountaineers a 5-4 lead at the time. Skylar King drove in the fifth run of the inning when he hit a sacrifice fly, scoring White and extending the Mountaineer lead to 6-4.
The Mountaineers would not be able to hold onto the lead for long though. Kennesaw State managed to score two runs in the top of the fourth, bringing the score to a tie of 6-6. WVU was able to manufacture another run, going up 7-6 on a sacrifice ground out from Rinehart to score White in the bottom of the fifth.
But Kennesaw State wasted no time, responding with a run of their own in the top of the sixth, creating another deadlock on the scoreboard at seven apiece.
In the back-and-forth game, WVU added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, increasing the Mountaineer lead to what they thought was a safe two-run margin late.
But it appeared Kennesaw State just wanted the win more. The Owls hit a no-doubt 400+ foot two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game at 9-9. Then later in the inning, they blasted a 450+ Grand Slam to increase their lead to 13-9 heading to the home half of the inning.
WVU showed little promise of mounting a comeback in the bottom of the ninth. White was able to drive a ball to the outfield wall, giving him a double. However, that would be the end of the night for WVU. But beyond that, no hitter even sniffed base during the last-gasp effort.
Bouncing back after their first loss of the 2025 season, WVU will still look to claim the series victory over Kennesaw State. WVU will get a chance at redemption on Sunday for Game Three of the series. The starting pitcher for WVU has yet to be announced. Game Three is scheduled to start at noon Sunday and will be aired on ESPN+.