MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia wasn’t near its best throughout Saturday’s contest with Kennesaw State in the second of a three-game set at Kendrick Family Ballpark.

The Mountaineers still found themselves in position to prolong their unbeaten start to this season when they entered the ninth inning with a two-run lead, but the Owls scored six runs in their final at bat, including a go-ahead grand slam from Donovan Cash to hand West Virginia its first loss, 13-9.

“More than just the ninth, we didn’t play very clean baseball,” WVU head coach Steve Sabins said following the first loss of his career. “Probably for the first time this year, a team outhit us and made fewer errors than us. We didn’t handle the ball very well. We had seven walks and a hit by pitch, and if you put them on and don’t play clean defense, you have an opportunity to lose.”

Sam White’s error to start the ninth allowed Cooper Williams to reach against reliever Jack Kartsonas, who then surrendered a tying two-run home run off the bat of Cam Suto.

Kartsonas retired the next two Owls (6-10) before Shamaar Mcduffie reached on an infield single — a ruling that stood after replay. Reese Bassinger came on for Kartsonas at that point, but hit Nate Anderson with a pitch and then issued an intentional walk to Chris Cole for a right on right matchup with Bassinger facing Donovan Cash.

The move backfired when Cash crushed a first pitch offering to left field for a go-ahead grand slam.

“Bassinger being a right-hander and more of a sinker ball thrower, we intentionally walked the left-handed hitter and the righty got us,” Sabins said. “We didn’t make a great pitch and he blasted one.”

WVU (13-1) broke a 7-all tie in the bottom of the seventh after a scary start to the frame when Brodie Kresser was hit in the face by a pitch from Daniel Powell.

“I haven’t gotten any update yet,” Sabins said. “He was bleeding pretty good from the nose. He got hit in the nose for sure, a big scab. It was nasty. I think he’s going to go get a X-ray to see if his nose is broken.”

Kresser exited the game and was replaced by Jorge Valdes, who immediately moved to third on a Logan Sauve double and scored the go-ahead run at that point on White’s sacrifice fly.

Sauve scored on Jace Rinhart’s fielder’s choice for a 9-7 advantage that marked the Mountaineers’ final run.

The Owls got off to a strong start against WVU pitcher Gavin Van Kempen, who allowed the first three batters to reach and yielded Cash’s two-run double in the opening inning.

Sauve’s first home run this season in the home half of the first cut Kennesaw State’s lead in half, but the Owls added two more in the third on a Suto double and Landon Tate’s single, with the Mountaineers’ subpar defense hurting their cause.

However, the first five WVU batters reached in the home half of the third, with Sauve drawing a bases loaded walk and White following with a tying two-run single.

Rinehart plated a run on a groundout and Skylar King’s sacrifice fly made it 6-4 in favor of the home team.

“Guys competed. We just didn’t play very clean baseball and if you play a competitive team, you have to throw strikes, play defense, have great at bats and be good on base-running,” Sabins said. “We didn’t do a great job today.”

The lead was gone the next time the Mountaineers came to bat with reliever Chase Meyer allowing the first three Owls he faced to reach, before giving up one run on a double play and a second on Jackson Chirello’s single that tied it at 6.

Rinehart’s second RBI of the game put WVU back on top in the fifth, before the Owls got even again on Cash’s run-scoring single in the sixth.

White was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and RBI, while Sauve was 2-for-3 and scored three times along with driving in two.

Rinehart was hitless in five at bats but drove in three runs.

Cash led the way in the win with six RBI and three hits, while Suto brought in three runs and Cole finished 3-for-5 with three runs.

Ryan Renfore went three scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out four to pick up the win.

Kartsonas was charged with the loss after allowing three runs, one of which was earned, in 2 2/3 innings.

Van Kempen allowed four runs (three earned) and six hits over three innings while recording a no decision in his fourth start this season.

The two teams play a rubber match at noon Sunday as the Mountaineers try move forward from their first loss.

“You have to be proud. This is something that hadn’t been done in 60 years here. Hold your head high,” Sabins said. “When you’re on a heater like that, you keep looking forward to the next game, and when it ends, you have to reflect for a minute and recognize you just accomplished something special and they should be proud of that. It’s something that can’t ever be taken away from them.

“We’ve always said whether we’re playing Queens, Lipscomb or Jacksonville, baseball is all about winning series. If you can go for a sweep, that’s a thing of beauty, but you try to win the series. Today, we had an opportunity to do that and weren’t successful and we get right back on the horse.”