Kyle Davis had three hits and scored twice, and Shane Ennis and BJ Myers combined to allow just one run over the first six innings as West Virginia beat UT Arlington, 6-4, on Wednesday in Arlington, Texas.
The Mountaineers, in a third straight midweek win to start the season, used a mix of small ball and aggressive base-running in plating two more runs despite both teams having eight hits.
WVU (12-10) led 4-0 early, only to have UT Arlington slowly climb back into the game, culminating when the Mavericks put runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning before Blake Smith induced a pop out to catcher Cam O’Brien for his first save of the season.
Davis led an efficient offense, going 3-for-4, giving the freshman seven hits in his last 22 at-bats. Brad Johnson tallied two RBIs and Justin Fox added a pair of hits, a walk and a stolen base in a prime example of the offensive stylings in his 100th career start for the Mountaineers.
UTA put the leadoff hitter on in the final six innings — and benefitted from nine walks — but left 11 on base as five West Virginia pitchers combined for the victory.
Ennis, a freshman from Hampshire making his first career start, worked into the fourth inning, exiting with a 4-0 lead after loading the bases on a leadoff double and two walks.
Myers entered and induced a critical 5-2 double play when Fox stepped on third and threw home to O’Brien, who applied the tag.
Myers then got a comebacker to end the threat and leave Ennis with a shutout and a no decision in lowering his ERA from the 1.12 mark he had after five previous appearances this season.
Ennis, scheduled to start in a cancelled midweek game with Liberty two weeks ago, finished with three innings pitched, allowing no runs on two hits and striking out four with one walk.
Myers, via two walks, got into trouble in the fifth inning, but got out of the two-on, one-out jam allowing just one run on two fly outs to centerfield as West Virginia carried a 4-1 lead into the sixth as he picked up the victory to improve to 2-1.
The Mountaineers got the run back in the bottom half when Ray Guerrini drove in Davis on a double for his 13th RBI of the season and a 5-1 advantage.
That caused another pitching change as UT Arlington (12-11) went to its third reliever of the game when newcomer Jake Wilcox replaced Justin Schnedler. Guerrini stole third on the freshman, but was stranded on a strikeout and fly out to end the sixth inning. WVU went ahead 6-1 in the seventh when Johnson singled home Cramer.
Arlington trimmed the score to 6-2 on back-to-back doubles, signaling the end for Myers.
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