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TUCSON, Ariz. - Not so dominant in stature, rather dominant in ability West Virginia's 5-foot-9 left-handed starting pitcher Derek Clark turned in a gem as the Mountaineers defeated Dallas Baptist 4-1 in the opening round of the Tucson Regional Friday afternoon at Hi Corbett Field.
Clark turned in a four-hit, complete game outing and received all the support he would need when Logan Sauve blasted a three-run homer over the center field fence to give the Mountaineers a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning.
Sauve finished the game 2-for-4 at the plate. Teammates Sam White and Reed Chumley also contributed two hits as WVU (34-22) outhit Dallas Baptist (44-14), 8-4.
Parkersburg South grad Grant Hussey went 1-for-4 as the WVU starting first baseman. Hussey turned in quite the web gem in the bottom of the fourth inning when he reached over the railing of the first-base dugout and snagged the foul ball for the second out of the inning.
Clark, who has allowed just two runs in his last 23 innings slammed the door shut on one of the country's top slugging offenses right from the start. He retired the first seven hitters he faced and allowed a grand total of four hits - only one for extra bases when Alex Pendergast doubled to put runners at second and third and no one out in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Patriots trailing 4-0.
Dallas Baptist No. 9 hitter David Heefner followed Pendergast's extra base hit with a sacrifice fly for the Patriots' only run. That started a string of six straight batters retired by Clark to end the game.
The senior, who kept his pitch count in check, finished with 102 for the game. He struck out eight and walked none while improving to 8-2.
Other than the eighth inning, the only danger he faced occurred in the bottom of the third inning when Dallas Baptist produced back-to-back singles with one out. Clark met the challenge by picking the runner off first base then inducing a ground ball which resulted in an inning-ending force out.
WVU advances to Saturday's regional semifinal against either Grand Canyon University or Arizona. The second regional opener was still in progress at press time.