The No. 13 West Virginia University baseball team lost to No. 23 University of Central Florida, 5-1, on April 5 at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The Mountaineers now have a record of 21-7 overall and are 8-4 in the Big 12 Conference, while UCF improves to 20-9 and remains in first place in the league with a conference record of 10-2.
This game is important as it affects both teams’ standings within the Big 12 Conference. UCF’s win helps them maintain their position at the top of the league, while West Virginia will look to recover from this setback as they continue their season.
Freshman Matthew Robaugh led West Virginia with two hits, and sophomore Gavin Kelly contributed an RBI on a sacrifice fly. On the pitching side, sophomore Chansen Cole took his first loss of the season after allowing four runs—only one earned—in five and two-thirds innings while striking out six batters. Graduate student Reese Bassinger finished the game for West Virginia by pitching three and one-third scoreless innings with four strikeouts.
UCF took an early lead in the first inning with a solo home run by Andrew Williamson, his third home run of the weekend series. In the sixth inning, UCF added four unearned runs to widen its lead over West Virginia.
West Virginia’s best scoring opportunity came in the eighth inning when they loaded the bases with no outs but managed only one run on Kelly’s sacrifice fly.
The Mountaineers will return home for their next game against Marshall on Tuesday, April 7 at Kendrick Family Ballpark with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.