West Virginia took the first game of the season against its in-state rival, Marshall.

The Mountaineers pitched another shutout in a bullpen game to beat the Thundering Herd 3-0 Tuesday night in Huntington. This was WVU’s fourth shutout of the season.

The Mountaineers moved to 17-4 on the season, and Marshall is 13-10 on the year. This is WVU’s sixth-straight win.

As Steve Sabins does in most of his midweek games, or at least the few that haven’t been canceled, he started David Hagen. Hagen had one of his best outings and actually went longer than just a couple of innings, like he usually does. He pitched three innings and had three strikeouts, leaving up to the rest of the bullpen.

Division II transfer Ian Korn came in for relief, and he pitched three as well. Korn struck out three and walked three. After six innings, the two Mountaineer pitchers didn’t allow a hit. Reese Bassinger came in and kept up the pace, but he allowed the first hit of the game. Bassinger finished with two innings and struck out five, leaving freshman David Perez to close it out. Perez struck out one and got the save.

While WVU’s pitching was holding Marshall’s offense at bay, the Mountaineers’ bats strung together just enough runs to win the game. In the top of the first, Brock Wills got WVU on the board, scoring Matt Ineich on a groundout. In the second, Gavin Kelly kept his bat hot and singled to score Zahir Barjam, who made his first career start in place of Sean Smith. Brodie Kresser knocked in Paul Schoenfeld in the third, making it 3-0.

The Mountaineers had seven hits in one of their quieter midweek games. Usually, WVU puts up double-digit runs. Matthew Graveline and Schoenfeld led the team with two hits apiece. Schoenfeld had a double.

WVU heads out west now for a couple of days for a three-game series against Arizona State. The Sun Devils were recently ranked in the Division I Baseball rankings at No. 22, being the only other Big 12 team besides WVU to be ranked. The first pitch of the series is set for 9:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN+. The final game of the series on Sunday is on ESPN2.