After losing a tough series to UCF, No. 17 West Virginia baseball bounced back to beat Texas Tech in a three-game series by winning the rubber match on Sunday in Lubbock.

The Mountaineers starter Chansen Cole allowed just two runs and pitched into the ninth inning to secure the third game of the series, 10-2, over the Red Raiders. WVU has won its ninth series on the year with the win.

The Mountaineers are now 24-8 on the year and 10-5 in the Big 12. The Red Raiders fell to 20-15 and 6-9 in the conference, but did secure Game 2 over the top 25 squad on Saturday.

In the final game of the series, head coach Steve Sabins put the ball in Cole’s hand, making another Game 3 start. Maxx Yehl primarily had the final game, but after a few series, Sabins switched it up. Cole didn’t have strikeout stuff, even though he did have four strikeouts. He was a game manager and forced a lot of easy outs and limited walks.

Cole had some base traffic, allowing eight hits and two walks, but still only allowed two runs through eight complete innings. WVU hasn’t had a pitcher pitch into the ninth inning this season. This was by far his longest outing, and he’s slowly becoming one of the more reliable pitchers on the staff. In his last three starts, Cole has allowed just four runs.

The Division II transfer felt a lot more comfortable on the mound, having some run support behind him. WVU scored just one run on Saturday, but had the offense clicking early. Sean Smith and Paul Schoenfeld helped for a two-run first inning, making it 2-0.

Cole finally allowed a run in the sixth, but in the top of the eighth, the bats provided him with a lot of insurance. Zahir Barjam hit a sacrifice fly and Brock Wills singled, too, which made it 6-1 Mountaineers. Smith helped out with another RBI single in the top of the ninth, starting another big last inning. WVU scored six runs against Texas Tech in the first game to help win the opener.

WVU scored four runs in the final inning and seven in the final two to secure the win with a nine-run lead. The Mountaineers had 18 hits, which tied a game against BYU for the most in a single game this season. Smith led the team and went 4-for-5 on the day with two RBIs. Six WVU players had two hits. Wills led the team with three RBIs, and Matthew Graveline secured his two-hundredth career hit and had two on Sunday. Gavin Kelly, who’s had a hot bat, went 2-for-5.

In the bottom of the ninth, Cole’s time was finally up, after Texas Tech had two runners on base with no outs. He finished with 112 pitches, throwing 73 strikes.

Ben McDougal came in an attempt to close out the game. He only forced one out and was pulled after he plunked and walked a batter, loading the bases. Ian Korn came into the game and picked up the final two outs.

WVU faces its nearby rival, Penn State, next in Hagerstown, Maryland, which will be the first meeting between the two schools this season. The two schools were supposed to play on March 17, but the game was canceled. The game in Hagerstown is set for Wednesday, April 15, at 5:30 p.m.