Baseball: WVU Takes Game One from Villanova
April 28, 2006 11:09 PM | General
April 28, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University baseball team took advantage of a tough outing in the field by Villanova’s defense to win game one 9-4 on Friday night at Hawley Field in Morgantown.
The Wildcats (22-19, 5-10 BIG EAST) committed five errors on the evening that led to six unearned WVU runs. The Mountaineers (28-14, 8-8 BIG EAST) committed a pair of errors of their own, but allowed no runs to result from them.
Villanova got out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first and led 4-2 after four innings of play. But the wheels came off in the bottom of the sixth when three errors, two walks and a hit by pitch helped the West Virginia batters put six runs on the board and take an 8-4 lead.
WVU added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when junior Justin Jenkins knocked a single to center field that scored Tyler Kuhn from third base.
Kuhn and senior Kyle Matuszek led the Mountaineers offensively as they combined for five runs scored. Kuhn went three-for-five with a double and an RBI, while Matuszek went two-for-five with a home run and two RBI.
Junior Dan Leatherman improved his record to 7-1 as he pitched his third complete game of the season. Leatherman allowed four runs on eight hits, while striking out nine batters and walking two.
Wildcat starter Mike Loree fell to 3-5 on the season as he pitched five innings in Friday night’s game. Loree allowed two earned runs, five total, while striking out six and walking none.
WVU and Villanova return to action tomorrow at Hawley Field at 1 p.m. in Morgantown.
