Putting it Together
May 12, 2007 09:20 PM | General
May 12, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Matt Yurish pitched the best game of his career when West Virginia needed it the most. The junior tossed a five-hit, complete-game shutout Saturday afternoon against Connecticut in Storrs to keep the Mountaineers in the hunt for a playoff spot.
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| Matt Yurish gets a high-five from teammate Brendan Bergerson during Saturday's 14-0 West Virginia victory over Connecticut at J.O. Christian Field in Storrs, Conn.
WVU Sports Communications photo/Nathaniel Zinn |
West Virginia (27-20, 8-14) scored seven runs in the third and fourth innings to cruise to a 14-0 victory over the Huskies, moving a ½ game ahead of UConn into ninth place and staying a game behind eighth-place Cincinnati, which knocked off St. John’s 5-4 earlier today in Jamaica, N.Y.
On Saturday, Yurish had all three of his pitches working.
“I was getting them out with all three pitches (fastball, curveball and changeup) but it was the fact that I was throwing all three in there and they were a little off balance and couldn’t sit back and guess fastball and swing at it,” Yurish said.
The Martinsburg, W.Va., resident had been struggling of late, dropping his third straight conference decision last weekend at Villanova 10-5. Yurish saw his earned run average balloon to 5.32 and his record drop to 2-5 after a disappointing outing last Saturday against the Wildcats.
Today, he was a completely different pitcher. Yurish retired the first seven hitters he faced until Brad Olt singled in the third. The lefthander set down the next eight in a row until Olt started the sixth with another single. The first two runners got on before Yurish got Husky leadoff hitter Peter Fatse on strikes and induced Dale Brannon and Larry Day into groundouts.
That was the only time Yurish allowed a runner into scoring position.
“The big thing was I was throwing my changeup for strikes which was the first time I threw a good third pitch in about four starts,” Yurish said. “That really helped me today.”
Not only did Yurish pitch a gem to improve his record to 3-5 and lower his ERA to 4.66, but a slumping West Virginia offense also awakened – particularly No. 2 hitter Tyler Kuhn who finished 4 for 5 with a towering two-run homer in the third.
“(Tyler) was up there having good at-bats the whole time, he was kind of in a little slump and the ball wasn’t falling in for him,” Yurish said. “It was great to see him bust out today and get a bunch of hits.”
Once the Mountaineers got a 7-0 lead in the fourth, that allowed Yurish to simply pound the strike zone.
“I was just going out there and throwing the ball in the strike zone and shortening the game and getting outs with the lead in case someone else had to come into the game,” he explained. “Luckily, I was able to finish it.”
Getting a pair of complete games from Josh Whitlock on Friday and Yurish on Saturday gives West Virginia a well-rested bullpen going into Sunday’s series finale.
If Sunday's starter Kenny Durst gets into trouble West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant has right-hander Levi Maxwell (coming off just 59 pitches last Tuesday night at Maryland) and left-handers Brendan Bergerson and Eric Saffell available to get to closer Chris Enourato, who picked up his fifth save last Sunday afternoon at Villanova the last time he pitched.
“I haven’t talked to (Durst) yet but he has a pretty good idea of what’s going on,” Yurish said. “The other thing is Justin Parks behind the plate has a pretty good idea of what’s going on. Justin was basically calling everything and I only shook him off a couple of times – if Kenny and Justin work together we should be all right tomorrow.”
West Virginia remains on the outside looking in for the Big East playoffs after the Bearcats surprised St. John’s on Saturday. In other conference results this weekend, Rutgers has taken a pair from Pitt to assume sole possession of first place.
Louisville moved to within a game of St. John’s with a double-header sweep of Notre Dame today, and South Florida has taken a pair from Seton Hall to improve to 12-11 overall. Villanova claimed the first game of today’s double-header against Georgetown to improve to 10-12, and the Wildcats were leading the Hoyas in the nightcap 5-2 after seven.
Yurish says West Virginia is going to need another performance like today’s to take its first conference road series of the year.
“We haven’t been able to put it together like today in a long time,” he said. “Those game threes against South Florida and Notre Dame and the first game of the Cincinnati series, we showed flashes of playing well but we just haven’t done it consistently. That’s what we’re trying to do at the end of the season.”
Sunday’s game has been moved up an hour to 11 am to accommodate West Virginia’s travel plans.
