Baseball: WVU Falls to Stony Brook
March 14, 2004 05:01 PM | General
March 14, 2004
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| Posluszny |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One strong inning from Stony Brook was enough for a Seawolves 6-1 victory over West Virginia on a windy Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field.
With one out in the sixth, Mountaineer freshman Travis McGrath walked two Sea Wolves batters. Then, Stony Brook capitalized on a Grant Psomas error en route to scoring six runs on just three hits to break the game wide open.
“We walked a couple and had a doubleplay opportunity to get out of the inning and didn’t make the play,” says head coach Greg Van Zant. “They capitalized on that mistake and jumped on us. Baseball is a game of big innings and if you can stay out of them, you’ll have a chance to win.”
Down six runs, the Mountaineers made a late charge in the eighth. After a Psomas walk, singles by Lee Fritz and Stan Posluszny loaded the bases. First baseman Kurtis Clinton grounded out, forcing in Psomas for WVU’s only run of the afternoon.
Brian Murtagh came in and closed the eighth inning to end a Mountaineer threat. Starter Kevin Fitzgerald tossed 7 1/3 innings giving up one run while fanning seven batters.
“Their pitcher shut us down pretty much all day,” says Van Zant. “He came out and threw a change up on a full count to our lead off batter, so he knows what he is doing. That was one of the better pitched games we’ll see all year.”
Sophomore Posluszny tallied three of the seven Mountaineer hits on the day.
The game was a pitchers' duel from opening at bat, with McGrath and Fitzgerald each allowing just two hits over the first five innings of shutout ball.
“He pitched a good game,” adds Van Zant. “He got himself into a little bit of trouble but really should have been out of that inning.”
Stony Brook has now won six of their last seven ball games.
West Virginia continues their homestand by hosting Duquesne on Tuesday, March 16, at 3 p.m.
