CINCINNATI – The West Virginia University baseball team took game one of its series against Cincinnati with a 5-4 victory at UC Baseball Stadium, Friday afternoon. The Mountaineers improve to 28-16 overall and 15-7 in Big 12 play while the Bearcats fall to 25-21 and 11-11 in conference play.
 
The 15 Big 12 wins match last season's mark as the most in a season since joining the conference in 2013.
 
All of West Virginia's scoring in the game came via the long ball as the Mountaineers went deep four times, led by a pair from sophomore Sam White as part of a three-hit day. Sophomore Skylar King hit his third of the season and junior Kyle West had a two-run shot for his team-leading 12^th of the season.
 
On the mound, senior Hayden Cooper got the start and allowed just one run in 3.2 innings while striking out five. Sophomore Maxx Yehl earned the win with a pair of strikeouts in 2.1 innings while sophomore Carson Estridge got the final four outs to collect his third save of the year.
 
After a scoreless first, White got the Mountaineers on the board with a solo home run in the second before King followed in the third inning with a solo shot of his own off the videoboard in right-center.
 
Cincinnati got one run back in the third before taking the lead with a two-run home run in the fifth.
 
WVU answered immediately with three runs in the sixth, getting a two-run home run from West and another solo blast off the bat of White. It is the second multi-homer game of the season for White, having also done so at Western Kentucky.
 
The Bearcats got within one run in the seventh and threatened again in the eighth, but sophomore right fielder Ben Lumsden threw out a runner at third base to end the inning.
 
The two teams will be back tomorrow for game two of the series with first pitch set for 3 p.m.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.