Baseball: Gold Squad Evens Series
October 12, 2005 12:27 PM | General
October 12, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team’s gold team evened up the Blue-Gold World Series Tuesday, Oct. 11, at Mylan Park.
The gold squad got out to a big lead early and held off a late surge by the blue team for a 13-8 victory. The series is now split at one game apiece.
"It was great to see the gold team bounce back and even the series,” head coach Greg Van Zant said.
The gold squad jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by junior catcher David Carpenter, followed by an RBI groundout by senior outfielder Casey Bowling to the second baseman.
The gold team blew the game wide open behind the power-hitting of sophomore first baseman Michael Burger in the top of the third and fourth, to lead 10-2. After three scoreless innings, sophomore outfielder Eric Saffell hit a one-out three-run shot to right-center field in the top of the 8th for the gold to stretch the lead out to 13-2.
Facing the possibility of the 10-run mercy rule, the blue squad responded with a six run outburst behind freshman outfielder Austin Markel in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Markel hit a three-run home run off of gold reliever Kevin Korzun to get the Blue team back in the game. But it wasn’t enough as Korzun closed out the game retiring the side for the gold team in the ninth inning to earn the save.
“It is encouraging to watch how hard our guys compete against each other,” Van Zant said.
Markel had another solid game at the plate for the blue team, finishing 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Matt Yurish picked up the win for the gold squad. Yurish gave up five hits and had no earned runs in five innings of work. His team-leading ERA dropped to 1.88 for the fall, allowing just five runs in 24 innings.
Burger went 2-for-4 with two home runs and five RBIs to lead the offensive output for the gold team. Burger’s home runs came in back-to-back innings and he now has six home runs this fall, tying him for the team lead with Stan Posluszny.
“Matt Yurish is improving every time he goes out on the mound and Michael Burger hit two big home runs that broke the game open,” Van Zant said.
Carpenter finished the game going 2-for-4 from the plate with a walk and a pair of doubles, also for the gold squad.
The third and final game of the series is set for 3 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 12, at Mylan Park.
