West Virginia continued its perfect sheet in the series opener against Liberty, pitching its first shutout of the season.

The Mountaineers beat the Flames 12-0 in the first game of the three-game series, moving to 4-0 on the new season. Liberty falls to 2-2.

The rest of the series resumes on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader after the game on Feb. 22 was cancelled due to bad weather in the forecast.

Division II transfer pitcher Chansen Cole didn’t have the best start in WVU’s season-opener against Georgia Southern, but he quickly showed why head coach Steve Sabins had so much faith in the sophomore. Cole got the series opener against Liberty, and it was as close to a perfect start as you can get for February baseball.

Cole was wild in his first outing, but he showed a lot more command in his second. He pitched five full innings, along with an out in the sixth, had just two hits, walked two and had a whopping seven strikeouts. You couldn’t have asked for anything better.

Liberty had a strong starting pitcher, too, creating a pitching duel early. Right-handed pitcher Ben Blair went four innings and struck out four.

WVU finally got to Blair in the fifth and started to wear down Liberty as a whole. UNC Wilmington transfer outfielder Brock Wills got the Mountaineers on the board first, with a single, scoring Georgia Southern transfer Sean Smith. Then, first baseman Brodie Kresser, who appeared to be fine after being hit by a pitch last series, roped a double, scoring Wills. Ohio shortstop transfer Matt Ineich, who had a great first series, hit a sac fly, scoring Kresser. After a pitching duel, WVU opened it up 3-0 in the fifth.

WVU’s bats were hot all last series and averaged over 10 runs a game. The Mountaineers took a little bit to get it going, but the offense found its stride after the fifth inning.

Smith homered the next inning on a solo shot, WVU tacked on four more in the seventh with Kresser and Smith involved as well, and then Paul Schoenfeld rocketed the first grand slam of the season, making it 12-0.

Smith went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Schoenfeld had two hits and five RBIs thanks to the eighth-inning blast, and Kresser had two doubles and two RBIs.

First-game top performers Gavin Kelly, who played second, and Matthew Graveline, who caught, both didn’t have a hit. Graveline scored a run after being walked. Kelly struck out twice and Graveline once.

WVU’s bullpen kept up pace, and Sabins brought in the veteran returner Reese Bassinger to relieve Cole, similarly to the first game against Georgia Southern. Bassinger had another strong outing, striking out six after an inning and two-thirds.

With a 12-0 lead, Sabins could experiment a bit more, especially on the mound. WVU used 13 pitchers in the last series, and Hawaii transfer Joshua Surigao. The sophomore left-hander came in at the bottom of the eighth in his gold and blue debut. Surigao pitched just the eighth and struck out two. Sophomore Bryant Yoak struck out all three in the bottom of the ninth to close out the game.

The Mountaineers’ pitching staff had 14 strikeouts, walked four batters and only had three hits.

WVU is expected to start Dawson Montesa in Game 1 of the doubleheader, and Maxx Yehl gets the nod for the last game.