Baseball: Mountaineers Plunder Pirates
March 25, 2007 04:58 PM | General
March 25, 2007
BOX SCORE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The WVU baseball team, led by strong pitching in the ninth inning, completed the series sweep of Seton Hall by winning game three 4-3 this afternoon at Hawley Field.
Tied 3-3 going into the top of the ninth inning, true freshman Chris Enourato turned away the first three batters he faced, striking each one out at the plate. West Virginia (13-5, 3-0) senior Jason Pape was hit by a pitch from right-hander Dan McDonald to lead off the bottom half of the inning. Pape would advance to second on a wild pitch.
With no outs and junior shortstop Tyler Kuhn up to bat, McDonald threw another wild pitch in the midst of attempting to intentionally walk Kuhn. Pape would score to give the Mountaineers the 4-3 win.
Kuhn scored the first run of the game, sending a ball sailing out the park in the bottom of the first inning for his fourth home run of the season. Sophomore Austin Markel would knock out his first career home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to score Kuhn who had reached on a fielder’s choice.
The tying run came from Seton Hall (5-12, 0-3) senior Robbie Hine. McDonald singled up the middle to score Hine in the top of the seventh.
“The win is a credit to our pitchers holding them down,” said WVU coach Greg Van Zant. “Chris Enourato has a lot of ability and a lot of poise. He gives you a chance every time he goes in there because he competes. Austin Markel really killed that ball; he has power.”
Enourato recorded his first career win, improving to 1-1 on the season. The right-hander allowed only one run on two hits while striking out six batters in 3.1 innings of work.
McDonald (2-2) took the loss for the Pirates, allowing one run on two hits in 2.0 innings on the mound.
Markel went 2-for-3 on the day while batting in two runs.
This weekend’s sweep of Seton Hall marks the second time this season that the Mountaineers have swept an opponent. West Virginia previously won all four games against Hartford on March 10-12.
The Mountaineers also opened BIG EAST play with a series sweep in 2006. WVU notched three wins against Pitt to open conference play 3-0 last season.
West Virginia will next host Canisius for a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 27. First pitch for is slated for 1 p.m.
