Baseball: WVU Splits Twinbill with Akron
March 20, 2004 07:44 PM | General
March 20, 2004
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| Bowling |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The WVU baseball team split its doubleheader with Akron on Saturday afternoon at Hawley Field.
Sophomore outfielder Casey Bowling hit three doubles and drove in a career-high four runs to lead the Mountaineers to an 8-2 victory over the Zips in game one.
West Virginia scored two runs in the first inning off RBI singles by Grant Psomas and Stan Posluszny.
Ahead 2-1 in the fourth inning, Travis D’Amico was hit by a pitch and Mike Christoforo and Doug Nelms followed with singles to load the bases for Bowling, who laced a double down the left field line that scored all three runners to give WVU a 5-1 advantage.
The Mountaineers tagged on three more runs in the fifth on another RBI single by Posluszny, a sacrifice fly by Nelms and a Bowling RBI double.
Junior southpaw Zac Cline pitched all seven innings for his second straight complete game and 12th of his career. He allowed two runs on seven hits while striking out six and walking none to improve to 2-1 on the season.
Akron’s Pat Watt dropped to 0-2 on the season after allowing eight runs, five earned, on nine hits while striking out one and walking one.
Bowling went 3-for-4 with four RBI a run scored and a stolen base while Psomas added three hits. Brady Steineck and Brian Kimutis had two hits apiece for the Zips, who scored both of their runs on RBI groundouts.
In the nightcap, Akron tallied six runs with two outs in the fifth inning and held on for an 8-4 win over West Virginia.
With the score tied at 2-2 in the fifth, WVU starter Chris Amedro was pulled from the game after walking Marcus Geiselman to load the bases with two outs. Freshman reliever Wes Osbourn entered the game and Akron pinch hitter Craig Welch responded with a two-run single up the middle. Two more runs scored on an error by Psomas and another was plated on a Andy Capraruolo double.
WVU chipped away at the Akron lead in the seventh, scoring two runs on a Lee Fritz RBI single and a Psomas sacrifice fly, but fell short in the end. Psomas, who had a two-run single in the first inning, led WVU with three RBI while Jake Serfass and Fritz contributed two hits each.
Amedro (0-1) was credited with the loss after allowing five runs, four earned, on three hits while striking out three and walking five.
Akron’s Ross Liersemann (1-1) earned the win as he pitched six innings and gave up four runs, two earned, on four hits with five strikeouts.
“Casey (Bowling) had a real good day and Zac Cline pitched well for us,” said WVU coach Greg Van Zant. “Their guy just game out and outpitched our staff and we had one bad inning in the second game. But we got one win today and that’s important.”
The Mountaineers moved to 6-10 on the season while Akron improved to 6-7.
The two teams are scheduled to play game four of the series on Sunday, March 21, at 1 p.m., at Hawley Field.
