Offense, Whelan lead No. 19 Baseball in 11-6 comeback win over West Virginia

Friday, April 27

Morgantown, WV

5:30 p.m.

University of Texas

30-15, 12-4

West Virginia

20-19, 4-9

Texas

West Virginia

Offense, Whelan lead No. 19 Baseball in 11-6 comeback win over West Virginia

04.27.2018 | Baseball

Box Score

The come-from-behind win was the 12th for the Longhorns this season.

Box Score

MORGANTOWN, W. Va.—A six-run seventh inning and four no-hit innings in relief by Matthew Whelan propelled No. 19 Texas Baseball (30-15, 12-4 Big 12) to an 11-6 comeback win over West Virginia (20-19, 4-9) on Friday night at Monongalia County Ballpark.

The Mountaineers went out ahead early with a run in both the first and third innings. A pair of lightning delays elongated the ballgame early on but Texas rallied for two in the top of the fourth to tie it thanks to a Zach Zubia walk, a David Hamilton triple, and a Ryan Reynolds RBI single.

In the bottom of the fifth, WVU once again regained its lead off Nolan Kingham. A leadoff walk followed by an error and a double put the Mountaineers ahead, 3-2. Another single plated a pair and Texas trailed, 5-2, after five complete.

In the sixth, Duke Ellis singled to left to drive in Hamilton—who finished with three hits, two RBI, and three runs scored on the night—to pull Texas back within two, but WVU responded in the home half with a run off of Bryce Elder before Whelan entered to limit the damage.

With WVU leading 6-3, the Texas offense erupted in the seventh.

Masen Hibbeler and Kody Clemens were each hit with a pitch to open the inning before a fielding error put Zubia on to load the bases. After a Mountaineer pitching change, Hamilton drove a single through the left side to plate one to make it 6-4. Reynolds then smacked a ground-rule double to right to score two and tie the ballgame at 6-6. The next batter, DJ Petrinsky, singled up the middle to drive in two and put Texas out in front 8-6. After an Ellis double gave the Longhorns two in scoring position, Tate Shaw lifted a sac fly to make it 9-6 to complete the six-run Texas seventh.

From there, Whelan (1-0) took over. The freshman right-hander shut down the Mountaineers over the final four frames. After getting the final three outs in the sixth, Whelan struck out the side in both the seventh and the eighth innings.

In the top of the eighth, the Longhorns tacked on another with a Reynolds RBI single and in the ninth, Hibbeler blasted his third home run of the season to put Texas ahead, 11-6.

In the ninth, Whelan allowed his only base runner—a one-out walk—before getting the final two outs to close out the ballgame for his first career win at Texas.