Mountaineers shut out Troy, advance to rematch with UNC

By Adam Grossman, WVU Sports

OMAHA, Neb. – The No. 16 West Virginia University baseball team staved off elimination with a 12-0 victory over Troy, Tuesday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field. The Mountaineers improve to 47-16 while the Trojans finish their season at 39-32.

Junior Dawson Montesa, senior Ben McDougal, graduate student Reese Bassinger, and senior Carson Estridge combined for the four-hit shutout. Montesa struck out six in 5.1 innings while allowing just two hits. Bassinger tallied five strikeouts in two hitless innings while Estridge closed out the game with two strikeouts in a hitless ninth.

The Trojans had entered the game having scored 91 runs in the NCAA Tournament, the most by any team in the field while averaging 10.1 runs per game.

At the plate, sophomore Gavin Kelly had three hits and four RBI which included a three-run home run, his team-leading 18^th of the season. He is just one away from tying the WVU single-season record, set by Jedd Gyorko (2010) and Mark Landers (1994).

Junior Armani Guzman reached base four times, had two RBI, and two runs scored while stealing three bases. Sophomore Matt Ineich also reached base four times and scored two runs while adding a stolen base. As a team, the Mountaineers stole seven bases, matching a College World Series single-game record.

After a couple of scoreless innings, WVU broke through in the third with a pair of runs as senior Matthew Graveline hit an RBI double before scoring on a short wild pitch.

In the sixth, junior Tyrus Hall and Guzman drew two-out walks before Kelly blasted a three-run home run to break the game open. A couple hits by senior Paul Schoenfeld and senior Sean Smith added another run in the inning. In the seventh, senior Ben Lumsden hit an RBI single to make it 7-0.

Troy had its biggest threat in the bottom of the seventh as it loaded the bases with nobody out. Bassinger came out of the bullpen and proceeded to get two strikeouts and a shallow fly ball to escape without any damage. Bassinger then followed that by striking out the side in the eighth.

The Mountaineers put the game away in the ninth with five runs. Graduate student Brodie Kresser hit a sacrifice fly before Guzman hit a two-run double. Kelly followed with an RBI single before Schoenfeld capped the scoring with a groundout.

West Virginia advances to play No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday at 2 p.m. If the Mountaineers win, they will have to play the Tar Heels again on Thursday with the winner advancing to the championship series.

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