MORGANTOWN — Just when it looked like West Virginia’s bullpen might have deserted them, Ben McDougal came in and quelled any thoughts Kansas State might have had to pull off a late rally against Mountaineers, putting together 4.1 innings of shutout relief in a monumental WVU 10-3 victory.

The win was WVU’s 40th of the season, which tied the school record set originally in 1944 and matched two seasons ago. More importantly, it cut the team’s magic number to clinch the Big 12 regular season title to one.

They can, therefore, not only set a school record for victories but clinch the Big 12 championship with a win at Kansas State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

There was, however, much more notable stuff — if not more meaningful — than McDougal’s relief performance behind starting pitcher Chase Meyer in this one.

The key was delivered by Mountaineer left fielder Kyle West, who turned a touchy 4-3 lead into a walk away win as he capped a six-run, fourth-inning outburst with a grand slam home run to straightaway centerfield. It was his ninth home run of the season, one that traveled 401 feet and left the bat at 111 mph.

West had a lot of help from his friends, mostly from Jace Rinehart, the transfer right fielder from Mannington, West Virginia, who added 3 hits in 4 at bats, 2 of them doubles, as he raised his batting average to .356 and reached 50 runs batted in to lead the team.

In this series, which is now two games old, Rinehart has 5 hits in 7 at bats, 3 of the hits were doubles and 1 a home run while driving in 4 runs.

But it was McDougal, the 6-foot-5 junior left-hander from Bridgeport, who healed what was becoming an ugly scab on the Mountaineer season with his shutdown bullpen work.

Over the past couple of weeks, WVU had suffered three walk-off defeats, one against Marshall, one against Pitt and one against Kansas State.

In the Pitt game, the Mountaineers could not get an out as they blew a 9-5 lead in the ninth, and in Friday’s game versus Kansas State, it was equally as bad, leading 7-2 in the ninth against Kansas State.

McDougal certainly did not bring a hot hand into the game from the bullpen with him.

In his last two relief appearances he had not retired a batter, giving up a walk and a single and having a batter reach first on an error, walking the only batter he faced against Texas Tech and giving up a hit and a walk to the only batters he faced in the Pitt game.

WVU was looking for a lifeline and he was the one who threw it to them. In the 4.2 innings he pitched he gave up just a double and a walk, economizing by throwing just 58 pitches, 38 of them for strikes.