Mountaineers Defeat UCF for Fourth Consecutive Sweep

ORLANDO, Fla. – The No. 17 West Virginia University baseball team finished off a sweep of UCF on Sunday, defeating the Knights, 4-3, at John Euliano Park. It is the fourth consecutive Big 12 sweep for the Mountaineers who improve to 37-5 overall and 16-3 in the Big 12 while the Knights fall to 23-20 and 6-15 in conference play.
 
In a game that WVU entered shorthanded in the bullpen, graduate student Jack Kartsonas gave the Mountaineers just what they needed by going 6.2 innings while allowing three runs and striking out five. Junior Ben McDougal finished the game with 2.1 perfect innings on just 17 pitches, a day after throwing 2.2 scoreless innings.
 
Senior Jace Rinehart had two doubles and drove in three runs while junior Sam White had an RBI and junior Skylar King scored two runs.
 
Rinehart’s first double came in the first as he drove in King to put WVU on top. The Knights answered in the home half to even up the game and took the lead with a run in the second.
 
In the fifth, Rinehart nearly hit a three-run home run as he hit a ball off the top of the wall, settling for a two-run double to put WVU on top. White then drove in Rinehart to put the Mountaineers up 4-2.
 
UCF got one run back in the sixth and had the tying run in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh, but Kartsonas and McDougal got out of the jams.
 
McDougal then needed just eight pitches in the eighth and only four in the ninth to collect his first save of the season.
 
West Virginia will be back on Wednesday in Charleston when it takes on Marshall at GoMart Ballpark. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
 
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