West Virginia baseball almost came out of its second weekend of the season undefeated.

The Mountaineers lost the final game of the series to Liberty, 4-1, handing them their first loss of the season. But, WVU won the series, blowing out Liberty 12-0 in the first and won a close 2-0 game in the second.

The Mountaineers moved to 5-1 on the season. Liberty moved to 3-3 on the season, losing its first series of the season.

The pitching, especially the starting pitching, improved a lot from the first series against Georgia Southern. In Game 1, Chansen Cole pitched five full innings and an out, had only two hits and struck out seven batters. Then, in Game 2, Maxx Yehl got the nod. Yehl pitched four innings, allowed just one hit and struck out six.

In the first two games, WVU’s pitching staff didn’t allow a run. The Mountaineers didn’t have a single shutout in the first series and had two in the second.

The third game, Division II transfer Dawson Montesa, who had the best starting performance against Georgia Southern, closed out the series again. Montesa still pitched well, even in the loss. He went four innings and struck out seven. He did allow three runs, but still should’ve been enough with how WVU’s offense was rolling.

WVU’s bullpen also had a solid series. Reese Bassinger came in and kept up the shutdown pace in Game 1, and in Game 3, a combination of pitchers only allowed a run. Division II transfer Ian Korn improved in his second showing. He pitched three innings and struck out two in the second game, relieving Yehl.

One of the biggest wins of the weekend was that WVU could’ve found its closer for the season and foreseeable future. In the second game, WVU was up 2-0 in the bottom of the eighth, but Liberty had two on with two outs. Steve Sabins made a bold move and called in freshman David Perez. Perez had an appearance against Georgia Southern and pitched one inning, striking out two. His second trip to the mound was no different. Perez struck out the batter to close the inning. Then, he came back in the ninth and struck out all three, closing out the game. On 20 pitches, the freshman has four strikeouts.

Perez showed the swagger and poise to be the closer. Before the Liberty series, Sabins said WVU didn’t have a closer, but Perez made a strong case in Game 2 to take that role.

WVU’s bats picked up right where they left off from the last series and scored a whopping 12 runs in the first game. The offensive beatdown was highlighted by a grand slam blast from Colorado Mesa transfer Paul Schoenfeld, who had five RBIs on the night.

In the final two games, the bats went quiet and only scored three runs. Luckily, the pitching could do the heavy lifting, making the last two games competitive.

UNC Wilmington right field transfer Brock Wills had a strong weekend. He had four hits and an RBI. Ohio transfer Matt Ineich continued to rack up a couple of hits and RBIs, and Coastal Carolina DH Sean Smith had a homer in Game 1.

First baseman Brodie Kresser and Gavin Kelly were both back in action. Both were injured in the first series, but looked to be in full strength. Kresser went 3-for-3 in Game 1. Kelly had two hits. Pitcher Chase Meyer, who was a couple of weeks behind schedule after breaking a finger on his throwing hand, came in for relief in Game 3. He pitched two innings, struck out two and allowed a run.

It wasn’t a perfect series, losing a game, but the Mountaineers still took care of business, heading into their first home game of the season against Ohio on Feb. 25. The Bobcats are struggling to start the season at 1-5.