Dawson Montesa threw 5 1/3 effective innings and West Virginia’s offense poured it on late, helping the Mountaineers remain alive with a 12-0 win over Troy in the Men’s College World Series on Tuesday in Omaha, Neb.
After eliminating the Trojans, the No. 16 Mountaineers will take on No. 5 North Carolina on Wednesday, needing a pair of wins over the Tar Heels over two days to advance to the best-of-three championship series.
North Carolina beat West Virginia 5-2 on Sunday in the second round.
The Mountaineers’ 12 runs were the most in a shutout win in the College World Series since 1995.
West Virginia (47-16) broke through in the third on Matthew Graveline’s RBI double to left, then added another later in the inning as Graveline raced home on a wild pitch.
The Mountaineers opened up the lead in a four-run sixth when, after back-to-back two-out walks, Gavin Kelly blasted a three-run home run to left-center. Kelly finished 3-for-6 with two runs and four RBIs.
Sean Smith drove in another run with a single after Paul Schoenfeld singled and moved to second on a wild pitch to make it 6-0.
Montesa (6-5), who struck out six and walked four, left the game with one out in the sixth with runners on first and second.
Ben McDougal retired the first batter he faced before walking Sean Darnell to load the bases. McDougal got Jabe Boroff to ground out to first on the first pitch to end the inning.
West Virginia extended the lead to 7-0 in the seventh on Ben Lumsden’s RBI single to left-center.
The Trojans (39-32) threatened again in the bottom of the inning, loading the bases with no outs against McDougal.
But Reese Bassinger came on and escaped the jam, striking out Blake Cavill, getting Jimmy Janicki to fly out to shallow center and striking out Steven Meier to end the threat.
Bassinger struck out five in two scoreless innings.
Held to four hits, Troy was just 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 baserunners.
West Virginia kept pouring it on in the ninth, adding five more runs, highlighted by Armani Guzman’s two-run double.
Troy starter Cooper Ellingsworth (2-5) took the loss, allowing two runs on four hits in three innings.
–Field Level Media
