West Virginia’s Tyrus Hall chopped a tiebreaking two-run single over a drawn-in infield in the eighth inning as the 16th-seeded Mountaineers won in their Men’s College World Series debut, beating Troy 7-5 on Friday afternoon in Omaha, Neb.
Hall, the No. 9 batter in the order, went 2-for-3 including a double, four RBIs, one run and a walk. He bounced the single over the first baseman to break a 5-all tie and help the Big 12 school advance to a Sunday game against the winner of the Friday night game featuring fifth-seeded North Carolina and Ole Miss.
Left-hander Ben McDougal faced one batter and earned the save by getting Jimmy Janicki on a foul fly to end it. West Virginia’s Ian Korn (6-1) allowed one run on two hits over six innings of relief behind starter Chansen Cole.
Sean Smith (solo homer) and Brodie Kresser (two runs) each went 2-for-4 for the Mountaineers (46-15).
Janicki homered and doubled, Sean Darnell notched two doubles and Drew Nelson had two hits for Troy (38-31), which lost for the first time in seven games and will face the loser of North Carolina-Ole Miss.
Reliever Zach Crotchfelt (7-3) took the loss.
The Mountaineers led after leadoff hitter Armani Guzman reached on an error in the first inning. With two outs, the Big 12’s steals leader completed a straight steal of home.
After Troy’s Jabe Boroff hit an RBI single in the second, Hall put West Virginia back up 3-1 with a two-run double off the wall in left-center.
The Trojans chased Cole with three runs in the third as Steven Meier, Nelson and Darnell produced RBIs, but Smith’s solo homer knotted it 4-all through three innings.
After Guzman’s RBI double put the Mountaineers up 5-4 in the fourth, Janicki slugged a tying homer, a 430-footer to left, for his 20th long ball to make it 5-5 in the seventh.
–Field Level Media
