Baseball: WVU Splits With Cornell
March 12, 2005 06:25 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
March 12, 2005
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The Mountaineers rallied from four runs down in the sixth inning to post a 6-5 win in their final at bat in game one. Freshman Tyler Kuhn's RBI single proved to be the difference for West Virginia, scoring Michael Burger with two outs in the seventh inning for the winning run.
Trailing 5-1 entering the bottom half of the sixth, Stan Posluszny opened with a walk. Burger, the designated hitter, and shortstop Kuhn tallied back-to-back triples to narrow the deficit to 5-3. Kyle Matuszek reached on a Cornell error as a hustling Kuhn crossed the plate. Justin Jenkins tied the score at 5-5 with a double to right center scoring Matuszek.
WVU’s Chris Amedro tossed 5 2/3 innings of solid relief work to improve to 2-1 on the season. The senior allowed just one run on one hit while striking out three Big Red batters.
The Mountaineers pounded out eight extra-base hits among its 10 hits on the day, as Kuhn, Burger, Jenkins and Casey Bowling each had multiple hit games.
Cornell raced out to a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half off WVU starter Shawn Miller. Miller hit Conor Kelly and William Pauly with pitches in back-to-back at bats leading off the second inning. A sacrifice bunt advanced both runners, and Kelly ultimately scored on Ry Kagan's one-out single to center, the first of three consecutive run-scoring hits. Jim Hyland and Josh Foster came up with two more singles to make it 3-0 before Cornell closed out the inning with a fielder's choice that scored Hyland to go up 4-0.
WVU scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the second as Kuhn crossed the plate on a Justin Richards groundout.
In game two, a second comeback attempt fell short as the Mountaineers left two runners on with the go-ahead run at the plate in their final at-bat to lose 7-5.
West Virginia needed three runs in the final inning to tie the contest but could only muster a single run. Richards singled through the right side advancing Posluszny to third who had walked. Bowling lined a ball off the right field wall to score Posluszny and put runners at second and third. Cornell ended the game with Jenkins striking out to end the threat.
The Big Red used a strong performance from senior hurler Tad Bardenwerper to pick up its first win of the season. Bardenwerper worked 7 2/3 innings on the mound, allowing six hits and four runs while striking out five and walking none.
Cornell used a four-run fourth inning to take a 5-0 advantage. The Big Red scored all four runs with two outs beginning with an RBI single by Garrett Wasson. With the bases loaded, Mountaineer pitcher Kevin Korzun hit Kelly with a pitch to put the Big Red up 3-0. Pauly finished the scoring with a two-run single to make it 5-0.
West Virginia plated two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. With two outs, senior Lee Fritz lined a ball to right field for the Mountaineers first hit. Senior Chad McKown blasted a ball over the left field wall for his team leading third home run of the season and make it 5-2.
Junior Bowling saved a run in the sixth inning by gunning down a Cornell runner who tried to tag up from third base.
The Mountaineers other two runs came in the seventh inning off a Doug Nelms double to left field.
Cornell’s Hyland came out of the bullpen to pick up a save in his first collegiate pitching appearance.
Kuhn finished 4-for-8 with seven total bases on the afternoon.
West Virginia moves to 4-8 while Cornell goes to 1-1. The two teams close out the weekend with a single game tomorrow at Ernie Shore Field. First pitch is slated for noon.
