Baseball: WVU Rallies For Split With St. John's
April 16, 2005 07:08 PM | General
By Tim Goodenow for MSNsportsNET.com
April 16, 2005
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The Mountaineers rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning in game two and freshman Kevin Korzun worked 3 2/3 solid innings in relief as WVU posted an 8-6 win after dropping game one 7-4.
Korzun did not allow a run in picking up his first collegiate victory while senior Todd Dunham tackled his sixth save of the season with a strikeout to end the game over the first place Red Storm.
Trailing 5-1 enter the sixth inning, junior Stan Posluszny scored on an RBI single to left field by outfielder Chad McKown off starter Jim Wladyka. Shortstop Doug Nelms followed with a bases-clearing double off the wall scoring McKown and designated hitter Kyle Matuszek.
Red Storm reliever Justin Muir entered midway through the sixth before being tagged for three runs including a Tyler Kuhn double down the left field line that scored three for a 7-6 West Virginia lead.
A pair of St. John’s errors in the eighth added an insurance run to push the score to 8-6 with Muir taking his second loss of the season.
Nelms went 2-for-3 in both games to extend his hitting streak to 14 straight games. McKown and second baseman Tyler Kuhn also tallied two hits with McKown crushing a ball over the left field wall in the second inning for his eighth home run of the season.
WVU starter Wes Osbourn struggled early as St. John’s raced out to a 4-1 lead after three innings before extending its lead to 6-1 with two more runs in the fifth inning.
Shortstop P.J. Antoniato and designated hitter Eddie Schultz each collected a pair of hits in the nightcap including a Schultz home run.
St. John’s took an early 5-0 lead in game one off Mountaineer starter Chris Amedro who suffered the loss. Amedro was touched for seven runs on 11 hits with a pair of strikeouts in working six innings.
SJU starter Anthony Varvaro earned his sixth win of the year as the Red Storm never trailed in the opener. Varvaro won his fifth straight game going six innings, giving up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts.
Leading 2-0, the Red Storm (22-10, 8-2) increased their lead to 5-0 with a three-run third inning.
The Mountaineers (16-20, 5-7) countered with a run in the third, but the Red Storm responded with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull away.
West Virginia attempted a comeback in the seventh inning as third baseman Justin Jenkins walked to open the inning. Posluszny then smashed a ball over the center field wall to make it 7-4 where the rally ended.
Posluszny finished game one with two walks and the home run.
The teams close out the series with a single contest scheduled for tomorrow at Hawley Field beginning at 1 p.m.
