The West Virginia University baseball team defeated Kansas State 7-0 on May 1 at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The Mountaineers, ranked No. 18, improved their record to 29-12 overall and 14-8 in the Big 12 Conference, while the Wildcats dropped to 26-20 and 9-13 in conference play.
This shutout marks the fifth of the season for West Virginia. Maxx Yehl, a redshirt junior, pitched five scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and improved his record to six wins and one loss while lowering his earned run average to 2.20. Graduate student Ian Korn pitched four innings in relief with two strikeouts and collected his first save of the season.
Kansas State entered the game averaging over nine runs per game—one of the top marks nationally—and held a .547 slugging percentage, ranking eighth in the country.
At bat for West Virginia, senior Paul Schoenfeld recorded three hits and an RBI. Graduate student Brodie Kresser had two hits and drove in two runs. Senior Brock Wills added two hits with one RBI as well.
Schoenfeld put West Virginia ahead early with an RBI double in the first inning. Sacrifice flies from graduate student Sean Smith in the third inning and senior Matthew Graveline helped extend their lead to three runs by mid-game. In the seventh inning, Kresser delivered a two-run single before he and junior Armani Guzman executed a double steal that brought home another run; Wills capped off scoring with an RBI single.
The teams are scheduled to meet again for game two of their series on Saturday at Kendrick Family Ballpark.
