Baseball: Mountaineers Wrap Up Fall Practice
October 16, 2006 03:08 PM | General
October 16, 2006
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| Trent Ridgley |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team wrapped up fall practice yesterday with a very successful 11th annual 100 Inning Game at Hawley Field.
Proceeds from the charity marathon directly benefit Hawley Field. This year, the money will go straight to the construction of a new batter’s eye to be placed directly behind the center field fence. The batter’s eye is designed to help players see the ball better when they hit.
Also capping off fall practice was the Blue-Gold World Series, held Oct. 7-9 at Hawley Field. The series, which coach Greg Van Zant called one of the most hotly contested series they have ever had, saw the Blue team emerge victorious.
The Blue battled back from a 4-0 deficit to take game one 6-5 in extra innings. The Gold team was not about to give up easily and triumphed with a 6-4 victory in day two action.
Game three was a true fight between the two squads. Freshman third baseman Vince Belnome of the Blue team hit two homeruns to help lift his team 6-4 over the Gold. Belnome hit the first homerun to left center field and then the second off the scoreboard in right-centerfield.
Right-handed pitcher Trent Ridgley started game three for the Blue and was the winning pitcher of the contest. The Blue team took the Blue-Gold World Series 2-1.
“The guys played hard and we saw a lot of good things,” Van Zant says of the series.
West Virginia will now start off-season conditioning with strength coach Jerry Handley.
Several Mountaineers posted excellent fall numbers. Rookie third baseman Vince Belnome, catcher Justin Parks and shortstop Tyler Kuhn recorded impressive batting averages of .442, .439 and .429, respectively.
Adam White, Tyler Kuhn and Justin Jenkins are Van Zant’s top three returners. White, a centerfielder, recorded 27 hits and 20 runs this fall while also totaling ten RBIs.
Kuhn made a good transition from second base to shortstop. The junior posted the third-highest batting average of the fall (.429). Kuhn was also one of three Mountaineers to strike out only four times all fall, the lowest number on the team.
Jenkins made a seamless move from third base to left field. The senior recorded 22 RBIs, the highest number put up by any Mountaineer this fall, while posting 28 hits, the fourth-highest on the team.
