WVU Takes Game One
April 13, 2007 11:39 PM | General
April 13, 2007
BOX SCORE
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| Trent Ridgley |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Trent Ridgley went 5 for 6 with two home runs and five RBI to help West Virginia to a 16-4 victory over Cincinnati Friday night at Hawley Field. Ridgley also pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Mountaineers, now 21-10, 5-5.
“It was nice, anytime you come out and get 16 runs on the board you’re going to win,” said Ridgley. “Matt Yurish came out and threw a real good game, (Justin) Parks worked his butt off for us behind the plate and it was a good win for us.”
Trailing 2-1, Ridgley tied the game for West Virginia in the second, taking a Steve Blevins pitch over the WAJR sign in right field. In the sixth, the senior cleared the bases with line shot over the right centerfield wall for his second home run of the season in West Virginia’s seven-run sixth.
“I’m seeing the ball real well and I’m just trying to hit the ball hard every time. I’m not really worried about the numbers,” Ridgley said. “Tonight I had a good night.”
It was a career night for Ridgley, who came into the game with a .258 average in 31 plate appearances. He nearly doubled his season hit total of eight.
“I’m just happy being a senior just to get in there and play,” Ridgley said.
WVU batted around in the third and six innings, scoring at least one run in each of the first six frames.
Justin Jenkins extended his hitting streak to 30 games with a triple in the third. Jenkins finished the night 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI including his sixth home run of the season. Jenkins can break Josh Williamson’s school-record 30-game hitting streak tomorrow afternoon against the Bearcats.
Tyler Kuhn, Vince Belnome and Justin Parks each had three hits for the Mountaineers, which pounded out 19 hits against four different Cincinnati pitchers.
Bearcats starter Steve Blevins was lifted after the fourth inning after giving up seven earned runs on 13 hits. Blevins falls to 5-5 on the season.
“That kid that we beat tonight Steve Blevins is an exceptional pitcher,” said West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant. “We had him on a visit and I would have loved to have him on our staff; we tried to get him.”
West Virginia starter Matt Yurish was effective pitching with a big lead, giving up four runs on eight hits while also striking out a career-high 12 batters in seven innings of work to lift his record to 2-2.
The Mountaineers have scored 32 runs and accumulated 36 hits in their last two Big East victories against South Florida and Cincinnati.
“It makes it a lot easier when you get 19 hits tonight,” Van Zant said. “We were able to get Yurish out of there after seven innings. His pitch count was getting up there and it was a cold night. When you swing the bats it makes coaching the game a lot easier.”
West Virginia is now 15-2 in games played at Hawley Field this season.
Cincinnati (18-15, 4-6) came into this weekend's series with 87 stolen bases, but West Virginia’s offense took away any running opportunities for the Bearcats. Cincinnati was just one of two in stolen base attempts Friday night.
The two teams resume the series Saturday afternoon with a 2 pm game. U-92 FM and WAJR AM-1440 will carry the game live locally.
