Baseball: WVU Opens Season a Winner
February 17, 2006 09:56 PM | General
February 17, 2006
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The West Virginia University baseball team opened the season a winner over the Bucknell Bison,10-2, Friday, Feb. 17, at Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem, N.C. Friday’s game was the first of a three-game set with the Bison in Winston-Salem.
“I was extremely pleased with the effort that our guys gave today,” head coach Greg Van Zant said. “I was impressed with Bucknell’s Matt Curry, he pitched really well and had us shut down. But we didn’t panic and were eventually able to score some runs.”
Curry came out of the gate throwing strikes for the Bison, holding the Mountaineers hitless through the first five innings. Trailing 2-0 in the fourth, WVU managed to get its first run on the board of the season. Senior Stan Posluszny reached second base off an infield pop-up that got lost in the sun. Posluszny eventually scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Casey Bowling.
WVU then took its first lead of the game in the sixth inning, 3-2, when Kyle Matuszek doubled to left center field to score Justin Jenkins, while Posluszny came home after an errant throw on the relay.
After adding a run in the bottom of the seventh to stretch the lead to 4-2, the Mountaineers blew the game wide open with a six run eighth inning. With no outs and the bases loaded, sophomore pinch hitter Michael Burger drew a walk on five pitches to score Matuszek.
After a fielder’s choice, WVU cleared the bases with the bat of sophomore Tyler Kuhn. The Louisville, Ky., native drove in two RBIs with a single back up the middle and freshman Adam White reached home all the way from first base after a throwing error by the catcher.
Senior Doug Nelms then hit a double down the right field line to score Kuhn and Posluszny ripped a double to left field, scoring Nelms, sealing the game for the Mountaineers. Kuhn and Nelms each finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead WVU.
Marty Fagler got the start and went four innings for WVU, but was forced out of action after a foot injury while covering a play at first base. The Mountaineers’ left-hander Kenny Durst came in the sixth inning to replace Trent Ridgley and pitched the final three and two-thirds innings to pick up the win. Durst (1-0) gave up two hits, walked three, and struck out one.
“Durst came in and only gave up two hits. Our pitchers just did what they had to do by hitting the strike zone,” Van Zant said. “I know Bucknell has got some more pitchers left, this is going to be a tough series.”
The Mountaineers’ game two of the Bucknell series is set to get started at 1 p.m., Saturday.
