Sluggin' Saturday
April 12, 2003 11:38 PM | General
April 12, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia turned 28 hits into 27 runs and an impressive doubleheader sweep of Connecticut Saturday afternoon at Hawley Field.
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| West Virginia's Kurtis Clinton got all of this pitch for one of his two home runs in the first of two Saturday against Connecticut. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Mountaineers took game one, 18-14 and captured the nightcap, 9-3.
“Our guys came in ready to play,” said Coach Greg Van Zant, who picked up his 250th career victory at WVU with the second victory Saturday. “This team plays hard and they want to win.”
In the first game, West Virginia needed almost all of its 18 runs in a seven-inning marathon with the Huskies. In fact, Van Zant had to go to his bullpen twice late in the game before Chris Amedro got the final out with the tying run on deck.
It isn’t often a pitcher gets a save in a game when his team scores 18 runs, but that was the type of day it was Saturday.
First baseman Kurtis Clinton had an impressive first game, slugging 2 home runs and driving in 5 runs to pace the Mountaineers. Clinton now has 9 home runs for the season to tie Tim McCabe.
Also going yard were Eric Grimm, Grant Psomas and Jake Serfass to help West Virginia tie a Hawley Field record for home runs in a game set by Penn State against UMass in the 1985 Atlantic 10 tournament and tied earlier this season against Eastern Michigan.
Psomas and Grimm slugged round trippers in the nightcap as well, giving West Virginia 7 home runs for the doubleheader and now 46 for the season. WVU hit 37 home runs for the entire season last year.
West Virginia scored 3 runs in the second, 8 in the third, 1 in the fourth and 3 each in the fifth and sixth innings for its 18 runs.
All nine regulars in West Virginia’s lineup had at least one hit; Lee Fritz and Clinton led the way with 3 hits each.
Starter Shawn Miller was the beneficiary of the offensive onslaught, going 5.2 innings to pick up his third victory of the season. Miller ran into trouble in the sixth and gave way to Justin Asbury. The two allowed seven Connecticut runs in the frame.
Miller gave up 10 earned runs on 11 hits with 5 strike outs and 5 walks.
“I wasn’t getting nervous because I thought we had the game in hand,” said Van Zant after watching his pitchers struggle in the sixth. “I was hoping Shawn could get the complete game and save some of our arms, but he just kind of got out of sync in the sixth.”
Connecticut starter Nick Tucci was lifted in the third after giving up 7 earned runs on 7 hits.
In the nightcap, Zac Cline went the distance to register his first Big East victory as a Mountaineer. He allowed 3 runs on 10 hits with 6 strike outs and no walks.
“Zac pitched an outstanding game and was able to go the distance – which was huge,” said Van Zant.
Leading just 4-3 going in the bottom of the eighth, West Virginia broke the game open with five runs. The big blast was a three-run homer by Grimm over the centerfield wall.
Fritz once again collected 3 hits and finished the day 6 for 10 with 3 runs scored. Fritz boosted his conference-leading batting average to .458 after Saturday’s performance.
Psomas also collected 3 hits and finished the doubleheader going 5 for 8 with 3 RBI. Clinton drove in 3 more runs in the nightcap and finished the doubleheader with 8 RBI.
“Grant gets five hits and two home runs and he’s hitting in the eighth slot for us,” said Van Zant. “That tells you the type of hitters we’ve got in our lineup this year.”
Tim Norton pitched 5 innings, allowing 4 runs on 6 hits to take the loss for Connecticut. He falls to 2-1.
Mike Leonard and Mike McDonough had 5 hits each to lead Connecticut.
The last time West Virginia swept a conference doubleheader was last year at home against Connecticut.
“Wins are so hard to get in this conference,” said Van Zant. “I’ll take them anyway I can get them.”
The pair of wins now puts West Virginia in the thick of the Big East race. The Mountaineers are 5-2 in conference play. Connecticut drops to 6-5 in the league.
Overall West Virginia improves to 21-11.
The two teams will wrap up the series Sunday with a single game beginning at 1 p.m. Senior Jason DiAngelo is slated to start for West Virginia and senior lefthander Peter Soteropoulos is expected to go for Connecticut.
“It will be a real difficult game for us tomorrow,” Van Zant predicted.
