MORGANTOWN — Tyrus Hall’s blast landed on the building of the ticket office out in left field, while Gavin Kelly sent another one 425 feet to deep center. For a split second, the shot appeared as if it was going to sail over the blue batter’s eye.

Sean Smith followed with a third home run – all of them coming in the eighth inning Sunday — as No. 18 WVU completed a three-game sweep of Kansas State with 13-6 victory inside Kendrick Family Ballpark.

“I’ve been struggling at the plate a little bit,” said Hall, whose shot to left field traveled 419 feet. “It was a lefty who came in, and we had seen him before. I was hunting something up. That first pitch came in and I got the head out and drove it.”

The Mountaineers (31-12, 16-8 Big 12) pulled off their third three-game sweep of the season and remained in contention for one of the top spots in the Big 12 standings heading into Tuesday’s game in Charleston against Marshall, before traveling to No. 11 Kansas in what will be a critical top 25 showdown.

WVU’s three mighty swings stood as both clinching and even a bit stunning for a team that ranks last in the Big 12 in home runs. They took what was once a 7-4 WVU lead, but a game that still had some intrigue, and suddenly turned it into 13-4 no-doubter.

That was the clinching part. As for stunning, consider the Mountaineers now have 32 home runs on the season as a team, which is only seven more than Arizona State slugger Landon Hairston has by himself. It’s a full 74 home runs behind Oklahoma State for the Big 12 lead, so to hit three of them in the same inning was out of the norm.

“We have some power on the team, but haven’t hit a lot of home runs,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said. “It’s not an all-or-nothing kind of team. It’s just that the number of home runs we’ve hit is less than the power we actually have. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a few more of those down the stretch.”

Previously, Sabins had referred to his team as “bucking the trend” when it came to WVU’s style of play, in that the Mountaineers have risen up into the national top 25 rankings this season even without seeing a lot of hits rising out of the ballpark.

“I would say we are (bucking the trend),” Hall said. “I feel like we get these rallies going and we’re pretty consistent with that. We don’t always need the home run to help us.”

Instead, WVU has found its success this season like it did for the majority of the time against Kansas State (26-22, 9-15); great pitching and defense. Kansas State star Dee Kennedy went 0 for 10 over the three games, while Kansas State was held to just seven total runs.

That may not be as sexy, but just as effective, as long as that pitching and defense holds up. In terms of how to win, WVU’s style suits Sabins just fine.

Then again, if WVU ever had a team that went out and whalloped 100 home runs in a season, he wouldn’t be against that, either.

“I still firmly believe that you find the best players and the best personnel and then you play according to their strengths,” Sabins said. “I’m not in love with putting on the steal sign or the bunt sign. I’m in love with putting guys in situations to be successful, winning games and building momentum.

“I do think having a team full of guys hitting 20 home runs would be great. You’d win a ton of ball games. You’re always trying to balance. This year, you could say I wish we had more guys with some more juice in the lineup, but if you have a bunch of sluggers and it’s feast or famine, you’d then say we need a little more balance and some speed and someone who can defend.”

That balanced look saw Sabins take four former shortstops – Hall, Gavin Kelly, Matt Ineich and Brodie Kresser – and turned them into a versatile defensive infield with range. He built up the top pitching staff in the Big 12 through development and transfers.

That was the model … for this season.

“It’s not like football, where you try to fit players to your scheme. We don’t have a scheme,” Sabins said. “It’s more about matching the talent and finding the best kids that you can in order to win games. That’s my philosophy.”