West Virginia University
4-0
Liberty
2-2
Mountaineers Shut Out Liberty to Open Series
February 20, 2026 08:44 PM | Baseball
Sophomore Chansen Cole earned the win with 5.1 scoreless innings, striking out seven and giving up just two hits. Graduate student Reese Bassinger tossed 1.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts while sophomores Joshua Surigao and Bryant Yoak each threw a scoreless innings with two and three strikeouts, respectively.
At the plate, senior Paul Schoenfeld hit a grand slam and drove in five runs. Graduate student Sean Smith had a home run and two RBI while senior Brodie Kresser went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and two runs batted in.
The Mountaineers ran wild on the bases as well, stealing six bags, already their second game of six steals this season and seventh occurrence in the last four years.
The game started with four scoreless innings as Liberty's Ben Blair, one of the top mid-major pitching prospects in the nation, went toe-to-toe with Cole on the mound.
In the fifth, WVU broke through with three runs. Senior Brock Wills opened the scoring with a single before Kresser doubled him home. Kresser then scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Matt Ineich to cap the inning.
Smith added a run in the sixth with his first home run of the season. In the seventh, the Mountaineers put up a four-spot, beginning with a squeeze bunt by Schoenfeld. Smith followed with a run-scoring groundout before RBI singles by Kresser and junior Tyrus Hall.
Schoenfeld put the exclamation point on the game in the eighth with a no-doubt grand slam, his first home run of the season.
The two teams will be back on the diamond on Saturday for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. to conclude the series.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cole, Chansen (1-0)
L: Blair, B (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Kresser, Brodie 2
HR: Schoenfeld, Paul 1 ; Smith, Sean 1
RBI: Ineich, Matt 1 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 5 ; Smith, Sean 2 ; Wills, Brock 1 ; Kresser, Brodie 2 ; Hall, Tyrus 1
SH: Schoenfeld, Paul 1
SF: Ineich, Matt 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ineich, Matt 1 ; Guzman, Armani 1 ; Maggy, Ryan 1 ; Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Mazey, Weston 1 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 2 ; Smith, Sean 2 ; Wills, Brock 2 ; Kresser, Brodie 1
SB: Guzman, Armani 1 ; Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Schoenfeld, Paul 1 ; Smith, Sean 1 ; Wills, Brock 1 ; Hall, Tyrus 1
HBP: Graveline, Matthew 1 ; Wills, Brock 1 ; Kresser, Brodie 1 ; Hall, Tyrus 1
PO: Schoenfeld, Paul 1
Batting:
2B: Drumm, R 1 ; Sorenson, J 1
