West Virginia has survived its elimination game in its College World Series match up with Troy, beating the Trojans for the second time in four days with a 12-0 win on Tuesday in Omaha.
The Mountaineers broke through in the third inning and never looked back, using timely hitting and dominant pitching to eliminate the Troy Trojans from the College World Series.
After two scoreless innings, West Virginia struck first when catcher Matt Graveline ripped an RBI double to left field, scoring Gavin Kelly for a 1-0 lead. Moments later, another Troy mistake helped the Mountaineers add a second run as Graveline crossed the plate on a wild pitch from starter Cooper Ellingworth.
The game remained 2-0 until the sixth inning when West Virginia delivered the knockout punch.
With two outs, Kelly launched a three-run home run to left-center field, bringing home Armani Guzman and Tyrus Hall to extend the lead to 5-0. The blast was Kelly’s 18th home run of the season and gave him three RBIs on the day. Moments later, Sam White added an RBI single to score Paul Schoenfeld and push the advantage to 6-0.
WVU tacked on five more runs in the top of the ninth inning, with Brodie Kresser’s sacrifice fly, Guzman’s two-run double, an RBI single from Kelly and a Schoenfeld RBI ground out.
The Mountaineers totaled 14 hits while drawing eight walks, consistently putting pressure on Troy pitching throughout the afternoon.
On the mound, Dawson Montesa turned in one of his best performances of the season. The right-hander worked 5.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while striking out six and issuing four walks. Despite throwing 112 pitches, Montesa repeatedly escaped trouble as Troy went 1-for-13 on the day with runners in scoring position.
In relief, Ben McDougal followed with scoreless 2/3 of an inning, followed by two innings from Reese Bassinger, where he had five strikeouts, no hits, and no walks allowed, while throwing just 25 pitches. Carson Estridge threw the final scoreless inning of the game.
Troy managed just 4 hits and has stranded 13 runners, unable to capitalize on multiple scoring opportunities.
West Virginia will advance to another elimination game as the Mountaineers continue their push through the postseason bracket. They will take on North Carolina, who they lost to 5-2 on Sunday in another elimination game on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN.
