Baseball: WVU Opens Spring Practice
January 30, 2007 03:00 PM | General
January 30, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team resumed spring practice this week to start preseason preparation for the 2007 season.
“We don’t have a lot of time to get ready because we start on Feb. 16,” says WVU coach Greg Van Zant who enters his 13th year at the helm of the baseball program. “It’s critically important that we get a lot accomplished every practice. Our players are really working hard and so far what we’ve seen is positive.”
West Virginia returns 16 lettermen and three starting field players from a 2006 team that had the second highest batting average in the nation (.339) and posted a 36-22 record before returning to the BIG EAST tournament for the first time since 2003.
Preseason second team All-America Justin Jenkins returns for his senior season in left field after playing third base his previous two seasons with the Mountaineers. Jenkins batted .375 with 10 homeruns and 49 RBI while setting the school record for single season base hits by tallying 94 a year ago.
Preseason all-BIG EAST selection Adam White returns in center field for his sophomore campaign after earning Freshman All-America honors last season. White batted .368 with 27 RBI and had 19 stolen bases batting from the ninth spot.
Junior Tyler Kuhn also returns in the starting lineup but has moved from second base over to shortstop after the graduation of Doug Nelms. Kuhn batted .365 and 50 RBI as the leadoff batter in 2006. The Louisville, Ky., native also was named the MVP of the Valley League this past summer while playing for the Luray Wranglers.
WVU also returns nine pitchers on a staff headed by Kenny Durst, who won last season’s opening game at the BIG EAST tournament, Levi Maxwell and Matt Yurish. The returning pitchers recorded 26 of last season’s 36 wins.
The Mountaineers were predicted to finish eighth ahead of Pitt, Seton Hall, Villanova and Georgetown, in the BIG EAST preseason poll by the league’s coaches.
West Virginia opens the season by hosting Cleveland State in a three-game series on Feb. 16-18, at Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem, N.C.
WVU is holding its practices at the Caperton Indoor Facility. Located beside Milan Puskar Stadium at Mountaineer Field, the Mountaineers typically practice in the morning and evenings. All West Virginia baseball practices are open to the public.
