Baseball: Mountaineers Fall, 6-2
March 28, 2004 05:55 PM | General
March 28, 2004
 |
||
| Van Zant |
“It's always disappointing to lose but we did play hard. You have to give all the credit to Notre Dame because they did what they had to do to win each game, one at a time,” says head coach Greg Van Zant. “You also have to give our guys credit for not quitting and not giving up at all.”
Down 6-2 in the ninth inning, a Mountaineer comeback bid was squelched when they left the bases loaded to end the ballgame. In the final at bat, Mountaineer Kyle Matuszek, who reached on a fielders’ choice, advanced to second base on a Casey Bowling single up the middle.
After a West Virginia strikeout, Lee Fritz scored his third hit of the day to load the bases for WVU. Designated hitter Stan Posluszny came to the plate after being robbed of a near homerun on the leftfield wall in the seventh. The sophomore sent a high-fly ball to centerfield short of the fence that ended the Mountaineer threat.
West Virginia struck first in the opening inning on an RBI double by Posluszny to take an early 1-0 lead.
The Fighting Irish responded with a run of their own in the third inning after Matt Edwards reached on Mountaineer error. Edwards scored Greg Lopez from third base to knot the score at 1-1.
Notre Dame’s All-American Steve Sollmann extended the Irish lead to 3-1 on a two-run homer to right field in the fifth. ND would tack on one run in both the sixth and seventh innings for a 5-1 advantage.
 |
||
| Serfass |
The final Irish run came in the eighth inning on Steve Andres’ single to right field scoring Lopez.
Travis McGrath (1-2) took the loss for the Mountaineers, despite fanning eight ND batters.
"I think Travis has good stuff and I like the way he competes,” says Van Zant. “If he keeps battling and stays healthy and continues to improve he can win a lot of games for us here in his career. He competed out there like he was a senior today, I was really proud of him."
Thaman (2-1) allowed just one hit in five innings of relief for the victory, while Ryan Doherty earned his fifth save of the season. Lopez scored three runs and led Notre Dame with three hits on the afternoon.
Frtiz, a junior from Waynseburg, Pa., tallied three hits on the day to lead all WVU batters.
Today’s loss marked the first three-game sweep over West Virginia at Hawley Field since Rutgers accomplished the feat in 2001.
The Irish are off to their best 20-game start in the last 45 seasons with a 17-3 record.
"We just have to keep working hard and try to get ready for Niagara on Tuesday then try and get ready for Rutgers come the weekend,” adds Van Zant.
West Virginia returns to Hawley Field in hosting Niagara for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 30, beginning at 1 p.m.
