Charleston took a lead early and used strong performances from its pitching staff to hang on for a 2-1 victory over WVU Tech on Tuesday night at Appalachian Power Park.
The win is just the fourth time this season in which the Golden Eagles (12-6) allowed three runs or less in a game.
"It was an awesome performance by our guys on the mound," UC coach Andrew Wright said. "They didn't walk anybody, and that was something we've kind of been hammering them on a bit the last few weeks. But they did what we expect them to do. It was good to have four different guys come out there and keep that consistent product the whole time."
Starting pitcher Kaleb Kinder and relievers Harrison Bell, Andy Hoyer and Levi Nash combined to allow seven hits in the victory. Kinder earned the win, tossing five innings and allowing one run on five hits, while the three relievers surrendered just two hits through the final four innings, with Nash earning his first save of the season.
With runs hard to come by, Charleston struck first in the top of the first inning. After Brice Arrington opened the game with a base hit and advanced into scoring position on an errant pickoff attempt, he came around to score on a Gianfranco Morello single to right field.
The Golden Eagles added to that lead in the fourth inning when they were able to string together a few hits and an RBI single from Taylor Itnyre brought Tristan Fields across the plate.
After struggling to find success against Kinder in the first few frames, WVU Tech was able to use the middle of its lineup to get on the board. Tanner Levine started things off with a double down the right-field line and a Jacob Reimold single put runners on the corners for Brady Groesbeck, who knocked Levine in with a sacrifice fly.
"That was important for us, especially as the visiting team in the game, because you want to get control early and find a way to keep control," Wright said. "[WVU Tech] did a nice job of getting out of a jam there. You've got to give them a lot of credit for how they kept battling their tails off too."
With both teams going back and forth with strong defensive efforts in the middle innings, neither was able to get much momentum going. From the fifth inning through the seventh, the teams combined for just two hits and neither team had a runner advance past second base.
But WVU Tech was able to make things interesting in the final innings - finding a couple of chances to even the score before coming up short.
In the eighth inning, Levine and Reimold got back-to-back hits with two outs before a Groesbeck fielder's choice helped to get the Golden Eagles out of a tough spot. Then in the final inning, Nash was able to get Abraham Alejandro to line out to end the game.
"We just didn't have some balls fall in for us and I don't think we adjusted as well as we could have early," WVU Tech coach Lawrence Nesselrodt said. "They played where we hit the ball and made a lot of really nice plays too. We had numerous balls that were hit hard but we just didn't take advantage of some of our opportunities and we left some guys in scoring position."
Reimold went 3 for 4 to lead the way for the Golden Bears in the loss while Devine also finished with a multi-hit game.
Charleston first baseman Nick Wilson, who entered the game No. 5 nationally with a .537 batting average, had two hits for the Golden Eagles.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.