MORGANTOWN — West Virginia baseball coach Steve Sabins talked about the legend of Dawson Montesa. In the first game of the series against Kennesaw State, the legend was on full display.

Montesa pitched seven dominant innings to help WVU beat Kennesaw State 12-4 on the road, securing the first win of the series. The Mountaineers are now 7-1 on the season, and the Owls fell to 4-4 on the year.

The second game of the series is on Saturday, Feb. 28, starting at 2 p.m. The final game of the series is Sunday, March 1, at noon. Both games are on ESPN+.

This was the third start for the Adelphi transfer, and by far his most impressive. He went seven innings, which was the longest by a starter this season, and was still throwing in the 90s when he reached 100 pitches. In the seventh, after two outs, someone finally got to Montesa, and he allowed a solo shot, but that was the only blemish.

Montesa closed out the seventh, but didn’t come out for the eighth. He faced 24 batters, struck out a whopping 11 of them, had just four hits and only walked one. The only run he allowed was the home run from Jackson Bradfield.

With a big night from its starting pitcher, the offense did its job and kept rolling after scoring a season-high 19 runs against Ohio in WVU’s first midweek and home game of the season. It took the Mountaineers two innings to get the offense going, but it came in waves, just like the past couple of games in the young season.

WVU’s offense started with a solo shot from Brock Wills. Wills has homered in back-to-back games. The Mountaineers tacked on a few more on singles from right fielder Armani Guzman and Colorado Mesa transfer Paul Schoenfeld, who had a nice start in his time in gold and blue. WVU led 6-0 at the end of the third.

Schoenfeld had three RBIs, scoring another in the sixth, making it 8-0, and in the eighth, 10-1. He finished the night going 3-for-5, and still leads WVU in RBIs. Ohio transfer shortstop Matt Ineich continued to be one of the best hitters, not only on WVU, but in the country. He had three hits. Second baseman Gavin Kelly and Guzman also had two RBIs.

With a big cushion in the eighth, Sabins took the time to get some fresh bats in the lineup, pinch-hitting some of the starters. The first was Ben Lumsden, and he hit a double, scoring Ineich. Then, true freshman Matthew Robaugh came in and got a hit of his own, which brought in Schoenfel. Two pinch hitters, two RBIs. WVU had a 12-1 lead after the eighth.

Kennesaw State tried to find some momentum at the bottom of the eighth, when Montesa finally came out. WVU’s Bryson Thacker relieved Montesa, and the Owls finally put some hits together. Thacker got two outs, but Kennesaw State had runners on second and third, so Sabins went to the pen.

Sabins put Mac Stiffler in a pressure situation, and Jamari Brooks hit a shot to left field to make it 12-4 WVU. It wasn’t enough to come back, but it might’ve given the Owls some momentum for the rest of the series.