Baseball: Cincinnati Preview
May 11, 2006 04:49 PM | General
May 11, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The way West Virginia baseball coach Greg Van Zant sees it, this weekend’s three-game series at Cincinnati is his team’s biggest of the year.
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| Stan Posluszny is congratulated by teammates during Tuesday night's game at Hawley Field in Morgantown, W.Va. Maryland defeated West Virginia 11-9.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
“We’re not an at-large team,” Van Zant said after Tuesday’s 11-9 loss to Maryland. “We had a chance at one point but you’ve got to finish first or second in the league to have a possibility of getting an at-large (berth). Our main objective is to get into the (Big East) tournament and that’s all we’re focusing on.”
The Mountaineers (10-11) are a game behind the Bearcats (11-10) in the league standings and are two of 11 teams vying for eight spots in the conference tournament to be played in Clearwater, Fla., May 23-27. Only 5-16 Seton Hall is essentially out of the race.
Notre Dame (17-3-1) and Connecticut (13-5-1) have already locked up playoff spots with two weeks remaining. St. John’s (13-7) is also in good shape to make the tournament.
After that, it’s an eight-team free for all for the remaining five spots with 11th place Pittsburgh (7-14) still in contention having all six of its remaining conference games against Connecticut and Georgetown at home.
West Virginia slipped to seventh place after losing two of three at Georgetown last weekend, while Cincinnati also struggled on the road dropping a pair at Villanova.
The fourth-place Bearcats are a much different team at UC Baseball Stadium where they have a 20-5 record this year including a 7-2 mark in conference play. Both losses came against Rutgers back on April 14 and April 15.
Most recently, Cincinnati (30-19) dropped a 13-9 slugfest to Ball State on Wednesday in which 11 pitchers were used by both teams.
Freshman right fielder Josh Harrison is leading Cincinnati with a .352 batting average in 49 games. He has smacked five home runs and drove in 40. Senior first baseman Logan Parker has a team-leading nine home runs to go with a .326 batting average. The New Mexico Junior College transfer has a team-best 57 RBI and a .599 slugging percentage.
Designated hitter Jack Nelson (.314) and third baseman Jon DeLuca (.313) are also batting better than .300. As a team the Bearcats are hitting. 293.
Cincinnati pitchers have given up 306 runs in 49 games and have a combined 5.26 earned run average. The pitching rotation the Bearcats used last weekend at Villanova consisted of right hander Steve Blevins, left hander Dan Osterbrock and left hander Kyle Rapp.
Blevins leads the staff with an 8-3 record and 58 strike outs in 82 2/3 innings pitched. Opponents are batting .299 against him and he has a relatively high 5.01 earned run average for a No. 1 starter.
Osterbrock is 3-1 with a 4.34 earned run average in 45 2/3 innings, while Rapp is a tough-luck 1-6 despite having a solid 3.52 earned run average.
West Virginia (30-18) is clearly not playing as well as it did earlier in the season when it won 17 games in a row and was receiving Top 25 votes. Since April 2, the Mountaineers are just 7-15, including 5-11 in conference play.
Inconsistent pitching has been the Mountaineers’ biggest nemesis. Since losing the final game of the Seton Hall series on April 2, West Virginia’s staff ERA has ballooned from 3.10 to 4.50. WVU pitchers have issued 107 walks in their last 22 games and have given 207 free passes for the season.
“You’ve got to pitch to win in baseball. It’s a simple game. If you pitch you have a chance to win,” Van Zant said.
Poor pitching has offset an offense that heads into this weekend ranked No. 1 in the conference in batting average (.339), slugging percentage (.482), runs scored (384), hits (582), runs batted in (340), doubles (101), home runs (42) and total bases (827).
Senior left fielder Casey Bowling has taken over the team lead in batting with a .399 mark. The Chapmanville, W.Va., resident shows six home runs, 11 doubles and 34 RBI in 45 games.
Third baseman Justin Jenkins leads West Virginia with 10 home runs, 23 doubles and a .644 slugging mark. The junior has driven in 45 runs and is batting .389.
Freshman centerfielder Adam White is hitting .384 and has stolen a conference-best 18 bases. Sophomore Tyler Kuhn (.375), senior Stan Posluszny (.323), junior David Carpenter (.322), senior Kyle Matuszek (.310) and senior Doug Nelms (.310) are each hitting better than .300.
Posluszny leads the Mountaineers with 49 RBI and has clubbed eight home runs.
Against Georgetown last weekend, Van Zant went with a pitching rotation consisting of right hander Dan Leatherman, left hander Marty Fagler and left hander Kenny Durst. Leatherman leads the Mountaineers with a 7-2 record and has a 3.53 earned run average in 66 1/3 innings pitched. Sophomore left hander Eric Saffell came in relief last weekend to pick up his sixth win of the year in a game-three victory at Georgetown, and has a staff-best 3.43 earned run average among regular pitchers.
Hard-throwing right hander Levi Maxwell has come on of late and shows a 1-1 record and a 4.91 earned run average in 25 2/3 innings.
Friday’s game has been pushed back to an 8 pm start. Saturday’s game will get underway at 4 pm and Sunday’s contest will start at 1 pm. All three games can be followed on the Internet through CSTV’s GameTracker.
“We’ve got to win one before we can win two,” Van Zant said. “If we win four out of our last six league games we are in the tournament. If we win three of the last six we’ve got a real good chance of getting in.
“If we win two of the last six, we’re going to need a lot of help. A lot of things would have to go right with the other teams.
“But we control our own destiny.” The Mountaineers took the last meeting 3-2 between the two schools in 1994. West Virginia leads the series 8-7.
