OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — West Virginia scored seven runs in the bottom of the first inning and defeated Baylor 11-1 on Wednesday to open the Big 12 baseball tournament.
The Mountaineers sent 12 batters to the plate in the first inning on a windy day at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, with Kyle Gray’s 3-run triple highlighting the six-hit onslaught.
West Virginia freshman Isaiah Kearns threw a complete game against a Baylor squad that was second in the conference in batting average during the regular season. He threw a career-high eight innings, gave up three hits and one run, and struck out six. Jimmy Galusky had three hits and two RBIs for the fourth-seeded Mountaineers (33-22).
Richard Cunningham had two hits and scored the only run for the fifth-seeded Bears (34-20).
West Virginia advanced to play Texas Tech or Oklahoma State on Thursday in the double-elimination tournament.