STATESBORO, Ga. (Interstat) — The West Virginia Mountaineers capitalized on a dominant first inning and weathered a mid-game rally to defeat the Georgia Southern Eagles 5-2 on Saturday at J.I. Clements Stadium in the opener of a doubleheader.

West Virginia improved to 3-0 to start the season, while Georgia Southern fell to 0-3.

The Mountaineers set the tone immediately against Georgia Southern starter Connor Fugate. Leadoff hitter Kelly sparked the offense with a double down the right field line. Ineich followed with a sharp single to left, driving in Kelly for the game’s first run. The early damage continued when Graveline led off the second inning with a solo home run to deep left field, his second of the season, extending the lead.

Georgia Southern answered in the bottom of the second against West Virginia starter Dawson Montesa. Davis launched a triple to deep left field and scored on a single up the middle by Max Prozny. After a productive groundout moved Prozny to second, catcher Sammy Leis delivered a two-out single to center field, plating Prozny to cut the deficit to 2-1.

The Eagles threatened again in the fourth, putting a runner in scoring position with one out, but Montesa struck out Prozny and Nico Senese swinging to end the inning. Georgia Southern’s best chance to tie or take the lead came in the eighth. Trailing by two, they loaded the bases with one out against reliever David Hagen. Thompson singled, Myers followed with another single, and a walk to White filled the bases, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate.

West Virginia turned to reliever Bryson Thacker, who induced a sharp grounder back to the mound from Davis. Thacker initiated a critical 1-2-3 double play, throwing home to force the lead runner before the catcher relayed to first to end the inning and preserve the Mountaineers’ lead.

West Virginia added crucial insurance runs in the seventh and ninth innings without the benefit of a hit in the seventh. They loaded the bases via a single and two walks against relievers Holden Wade and Fugate. Graveline and Schoenfeld then drew consecutive bases-loaded walks to push the lead to 4-1. In the ninth, Guzman doubled and later scored on an RBI single by Graveline.

Mountaineers closer David Perez entered in the ninth and sealed the victory, striking out two in a perfect inning.

Montesa earned the win for West Virginia, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings while striking out six. Fugate took the loss for Georgia Southern. West Virginia batters collected nine hits, led by multi-hit games from Kelly and Ineich. Georgia Southern recorded eight hits, with Prozny, Leis, and Thompson each notching two.

The most important part of the game was the eighth-inning double play initiated by Thacker. With the bases loaded, one out, and the tying run in scoring position, the defensive gem snuffed out Georgia Southern’s most serious late-game threat and maintained West Virginia’s two-run cushion heading into the final inning.

The doubleheader concluded a season-opening series for both teams. West Virginia travels to face Liberty next Friday, while Georgia Southern hosts Georgia Tech on Tuesday.