Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Fall Ball Begins with Marshall Friday, Alumni Game Saturday
October 05, 2017 05:05 PM | Baseball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Fans will get their first look at the 2018 West Virginia University baseball team this weekend, when WVU hosts Marshall on Friday, Oct. 6, and the annual Alumni Game on Saturday, Oct. 7.
First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET, while Saturday's game will begin at 11:30 a.m. All three of WVU's fall games will be played at Monongalia County Ballpark, and admission is free for all fans.
For fans unable to attend the games, updates will be available by following and connecting with the Mountaineers on social media at WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, portions of both games will be streamed on Twitter at @WVUBaseball.
"I'm anxious to play these games, we have four games this fall, that's pretty unusual to have the ability to do that," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "The new guys, who we're counting on helping this team in the spring, it's nice to have these guys get three or four games under their belt before it counts for real. There are going to be jitters, it's better that that happens when it doesn't really count that much then when it counts a lot. We're going to use these games as a way to get a lot of guys experience that need experience."
A large number of former players will be back for Saturday's Alumni Game. All three Mountaineers from the 2017 team that played professionally this past summer, Jackson Cramer, Kyle Davis and Jackson Sigman, will be in attendance.
At last year's Alumni Game, the 2016-17 Mountaineers beat the alumni, 12-5, in the team's lone fall game of the season. WVU scored four runs in the first inning and took a 6-2 lead into the seventh. Both teams plated three runs in the seventh inning before the current Mountaineers added a run in the eighth and two in the ninth.
The Mountaineers and Thundering Herd are familiar foes, meeting twice in 2017. WVU won both games, 14-7, on April 4 in Morgantown and 8-4 on April 18 in Charleston. West Virginia is 45-24 all-time against Marshall and has won 15 of the last 18 regular-season meetings. Marshall went 25-29 in 2017 with a 12-18 mark in Conference-USA play.
Cramer, Davis and Sigman helped lead West Virginia to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017, the 12th in program history. WVU advanced to the NCAA regional final for the third time in school history and posted a 36-26 record.
Twenty-six players return from last year's team, including nine of a program-record 12 that earned All-Big 12 Team honors in 2017.
Junior Braden Zarbnisky was named a 2017 Third Team All-American, the NCBWA District II Player of the Year and a John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award finalist along with earning All-Big 12 First Team accolades.
Senior BJ Myers, juniors Jimmy Galusky, Kyle Gray, Michael Grove and Darius Hill and sophomores Sam Kessler, Alek Manoah and Brandon White were recognized on the All-Big 12 Second Team, Honorable Mention Team and All-Freshman Team a season ago.
The fall slate concludes for West Virginia against Bucknell on Sunday, Oct. 15, at noon.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m. ET, while Saturday's game will begin at 11:30 a.m. All three of WVU's fall games will be played at Monongalia County Ballpark, and admission is free for all fans.
For fans unable to attend the games, updates will be available by following and connecting with the Mountaineers on social media at WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, portions of both games will be streamed on Twitter at @WVUBaseball.
"I'm anxious to play these games, we have four games this fall, that's pretty unusual to have the ability to do that," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "The new guys, who we're counting on helping this team in the spring, it's nice to have these guys get three or four games under their belt before it counts for real. There are going to be jitters, it's better that that happens when it doesn't really count that much then when it counts a lot. We're going to use these games as a way to get a lot of guys experience that need experience."
A large number of former players will be back for Saturday's Alumni Game. All three Mountaineers from the 2017 team that played professionally this past summer, Jackson Cramer, Kyle Davis and Jackson Sigman, will be in attendance.
At last year's Alumni Game, the 2016-17 Mountaineers beat the alumni, 12-5, in the team's lone fall game of the season. WVU scored four runs in the first inning and took a 6-2 lead into the seventh. Both teams plated three runs in the seventh inning before the current Mountaineers added a run in the eighth and two in the ninth.
The Mountaineers and Thundering Herd are familiar foes, meeting twice in 2017. WVU won both games, 14-7, on April 4 in Morgantown and 8-4 on April 18 in Charleston. West Virginia is 45-24 all-time against Marshall and has won 15 of the last 18 regular-season meetings. Marshall went 25-29 in 2017 with a 12-18 mark in Conference-USA play.
Cramer, Davis and Sigman helped lead West Virginia to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017, the 12th in program history. WVU advanced to the NCAA regional final for the third time in school history and posted a 36-26 record.
Twenty-six players return from last year's team, including nine of a program-record 12 that earned All-Big 12 Team honors in 2017.
Junior Braden Zarbnisky was named a 2017 Third Team All-American, the NCBWA District II Player of the Year and a John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award finalist along with earning All-Big 12 First Team accolades.
Senior BJ Myers, juniors Jimmy Galusky, Kyle Gray, Michael Grove and Darius Hill and sophomores Sam Kessler, Alek Manoah and Brandon White were recognized on the All-Big 12 Second Team, Honorable Mention Team and All-Freshman Team a season ago.
The fall slate concludes for West Virginia against Bucknell on Sunday, Oct. 15, at noon.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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