Baseball: Five WVU Homers Sink Duquesne
April 12, 2005 06:53 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
April 12, 2005
 |
||
| Posluszny |
Duquesne (9-17) took an early 2-0 lead before West Virginia erupted for seven runs with two outs in the top of the third inning off starter Joe Kaye who suffered his first loss of the season.
WVU scored its first run of the game in the third as outfielder Chad McKown drew a bases-loaded walk scoring David Carpenter who was hit by a pitch. Outfielder Stan Posluszny followed with a grand slam as WVU took its first lead of the game at 5-2. Designated hitter Kyle Matuszek increased the lead to 6-2 with a solo home run – his fourth of the year. Shortstop Doug Nelms tagged on the inning’s final run with an RBI single scoring Trent Ridgley who had walked.
West Virginia (15-19) increased its lead to 10 with a five-run fifth inning. Posluszny and Matuszek collected back-to-back singles and Posluszny scored on a Duquesne error by Aaron Janusey with Ridgley at-bat. Carpenter then doubled to score Ridgley and Nelms to make it 10-2. Second baseman Tyler Kuhn finished the scoring with a two-run homer, the first of his career, to make it 12-2 midway through the fifth inning.
Lefthander Fagler improved to 4-0 on the season going 5 1/3 innings allowing eight runs (three earned) on seven hits. The Farmington, Pa., native registered five strikeouts and walked three in facing 26 batters.
The Dukes scored a pair of runs in the second and fifth innings large in part to two Mountaineer errors. WVU tallied three errors on the afternoon leading to five unearned runs.
Posluszny’s bat struck again in the sixth inning his second home run of the day. The junior crushed a ball over the fence increasing West Virginia’s lead to 14-4. The Aliquippa, Pa., native finished the afternoon going 4-for-6 with a career-high six RBI.
Duquesne attempted a comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning with a four-run effort. Freshmen Patrick Kimutis tripled and Nolan Pena doubled in scoring three of the Dukes four runs.
West Virginia put the game out of reach in the eighth inning as Posluszny nearly hit a third home run with a leadoff double off the left center fence. Matuszek notched his fourth hit of the game to put runners on the corners. Carpenter came through again with another double to put WVU up 16-8.
Jenkins belted his team-leading eighth home run of the year to leadoff the ninth inning for West Virginia’s final run.
Nelms extended his hitting streak to a team-high 12 games while Jenkins has now hit safely in eight straight contests.
West Virginia continued its dominance over Duquesne having now won 25 straight games. Head coach Greg Van Zant is a perfect 11-0 all-time against the Dukes.
The Mountaineers resume BIG EAST play against St. John’s in an important three-game series at Hawley Field, April 16-17. A doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, April 16, and a single game on Sunday, April 17. First pitch on both days is slated for 1 p.m.
