Baseball: West Virginia to Open BIG EAST Play
March 22, 2007 02:04 PM | General
March 22, 2007
GAME NOTES
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| Justin Jenkins |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team will open BIG EAST play this weekend with a three-game series against Seton Hall.
The Mountaineers and the Pirates will first meet at 5 p.m. on Friday, March 23. Game two will take place at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 24. The weekend will end with a 1 p.m. game on Sunday, March 25.
West Virginia (10-5) enters this weekend’s competition after a 10-6 loss to St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, March 21. The Mountaineers fell behind 6-2 early in the game and could not stage a comeback. BIG EAST pitcher of the week Josh Whitlock recorded the loss and fell to 1-3.
Five Mountaineers are batting over .300 this season. Sophomore Adam White leads the pack with a .446 average. Senior Justin Jenkins and junior Tyler Kuhn have each knocked in a team-high 19 RBIs. Jenkins comes into the weekend riding a 14-game hitting streak. Junior left-hander Kenny Durst is sporting a team-best 1.72 ERA and 34 total strikeouts.
Seton Hall (5-9) is also coming off a loss as the Pirates last fell 3-1 to Stony Brook on March 14.
Sophomore Greg Miller is the only Pirate batting above .400 this season (.408). Miller has registered 20 hits, five doubles, one triple and one home run.
Seton Hall figures to throw sophomore left-hander Corey Young (1-1) on Friday, junior lefty Dan Merklinger (1-3) on Saturday and freshman right-hander Sean Black (0-2) on Sunday. Merklinger has struck out a team-best 25 batters thus far. He has a 6.46 ERA after 23.2 total innings on the mound. Black, a second round draft pick in 2006, is sporting a 5.19 ERA with 18 strikeouts in 17.1 total innings of play.
The Mountaineers went 2-1 last year and are 18-10 all-time against the Pirates.
