MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team claimed an important Big 12 series on Saturday, defeating No. 17 UCF, 7-5, at Kendrick Family Ballpark. The Mountaineers improve to 21-13 and 10-4 in the Big 12 while the Knights fall to 21-11 and 8-9 in conference play.
 
For the fourth straight outing, senior Derek Clark went 9.0 innings for his third complete game of the season. He struck out a season-high 10 batters and walked just two while allowing four earned runs.
 
At the plate, the Mountaineers hit three home runs off the bats of junior JJ Wetherholt, senior Reed Chumley and sophomore Sam White. Sophomore Skylar King added two hits, an RBI and a run scored.
 
UCF took the lead with two runs in the third inning before White got one back with a run-scoring groundout. The Knights responded with a run in the fourth before WVU answered with a run in the home half on a Spencer Barnett sacrifice fly to stay within one.
 
In the fifth, Wetherholt and Chumley each hit solo home runs to put the Mountaineers on top. For Wetherholt, it was his first of the year while Chumley's was his team-leading ninth of the season.
 
The Mountaineers added two more runs in the sixth on a single by King and sacrifice fly from Wetherholt.
 
In the seventh, the two teams traded solo home runs as White hit his sixth of the season.
 
The Knights pushed across a run in the ninth and brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but Clark secured the victory by inducing a fielder's choice to end the game.
 
West Virginia will look for the sweep tomorrow afternoon with first pitch is set for 12 p.m., up an hour from its originally scheduled time.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.