The No. 13 West Virginia University baseball team defeated Arizona, 7-4, in a non-conference game at Hi Corbett Field on April 1. With this result, the Mountaineers improved their record to 20-5 while the Wildcats fell to 9-19.
This victory adds to West Virginia’s strong track record in Tucson, where they now hold a 6-1 all-time record, including a regional title in 2024.
Despite being limited to five hits and striking out a season-high sixteen times, the Mountaineers took advantage of ten walks, two hit-by-pitches, two passed balls, a wild pitch, and an error. Sophomore Matt Ineich contributed two hits and two runs batted in (RBI), while junior Armani Guzman added two hits and scored twice. The team also stole five bases for the fifth time this season.
On the pitching side, senior Carson Estridge earned the win after pitching 2.1 innings of relief with five strikeouts and allowing one run. Graduate student Reese Bassinger struck out five batters over 3.2 innings to secure his first save of the season.
Arizona initially led with a two-run home run in the second inning before West Virginia responded by tying the game in the third through a wild pitch and an error. The Mountaineers took control with three runs in the fourth inning via a passed ball, hit-by-pitch, and groundout. Ineich provided WVU’s only RBI hit of the night with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
Although Arizona managed runs in both the sixth and eighth innings, they did not bring up the tying run as West Virginia held on for victory.
West Virginia is scheduled to return home for a weekend series against No. 23 UCF from April 3-5—a matchup between two top teams from Big 12 Conference play.
