Baseball: Villanova Late Rally Tops WVU
April 30, 2006 05:42 PM | General
April 30, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University baseball team dropped its final game against BIG EAST foe Villanova, 12-9, on Sunday, April 30, in Morgantown, W.Va., at Hawley Field.
Villanova (23-20, 6-11 BIG EAST) scored five runs in the final two innings to avoid the series sweep.
The Mountaineers (29-15, 9-9 BIG EAST) took a 1-0 advantage in the bottom of the first when Tyler Kuhn crossed home from third base on a ground out by Justin Jenkins.
WVU added three more runs one inning later on a pair of home runs. Junior catcher David Carpenter started things off with a two-run shot to left field for his fourth homer of the season. After a ground out by Adam White, sophomore shortstop Tyler Kuhn drove his first home run of the season over the right field fence.
The lead would prove to be short lived as center fielder Kris Molloy knotted the game with one swing of the bat in the fourth. With the bases loaded Molloy, batting in the ninth spot in the order, snuck a home run just over the right field fence down the line for a grand slam. The home run was his second of the season.
The Wildcat hitters were not satisfied with just a grand slam though, as later on in the inning Jeremy Hunt singled through the right side to score Craig Mirsky from third base.
Villanova added two more runs in the sixth to take a 7-4 lead.
Senior Casey Bowling led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo home run to center field, trimming the Wildcat lead to two. The Mountaineers then proceeded to load the bases with one out, ending reliever Ryan Wendler’s day.
The Mountaineers scored two more runs in the sixth as Bill Wooten scored from third on a wild pitch by Frank Jankowski and a Doug Nelms hit a hard shot to the shortstop the resulted in a single and allowed White to cross the plate from third.
WVU added a run in the seventh that was countered by two Villanva runs in the top of the eighth. In the bottom of the inning Jenkins doubled to left to score Kuhn from second and knot the game once again, this time at 9-9.
That tie would prove short as a fielding error by Kuhn on ground ball hit by Joe Cotter would allow Derek Shunk to score from second base. The Wildcats then added two insurance runs as Frank Cirone doubled down the right field line.
West Virginia tried to mount one last comeback as it loaded the bases with two outs and Jenkins at the plate. Jenkins drove a ball to right center field, but Molloy came up big one more time for Villanova as he laid out for a diving catch to end the ball game.
Senior outfielder Casey Bowling led the Mountaineers offensively as he went 4-for-5 at the plate with two RBI. Jenkins and David Carpenter each chipped in with two RBI apiece as well.
Reliever Gus Guida earned the win for the Wildcats as he pitched two innings of relief and allowed one run.
WVU’s Kenny Durst pitched 3.1 innings in the loss, giving up three runs, two earned, to be saddled with the loss. Durst drops to 3-4 on the season.
The Mountaineers return to action on Saturday, May 6, when they face Georgetown in Bethesda, Md., at 4 p.m. in a BIG EAST doubleheader.
