Baseball: WVU Travels to Villanova This Weekend
May 04, 2007 09:43 AM | General
May 4, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The WVU baseball team travels to take on the Villanova Wildcats in BIG EAST action this weekend on May 5-6, at the Villanova Ballpark at Plymouth in Plymouth Meeting, Pa.
Villanova (22-19, 7-11 BIG EAST) currently sits in the eighth and final BIG EAST tournament spot with West Virginia (24-16, 6-11 BIG EAST) just a half game behind the Wildcats in ninth.
The series is slated to have a doubleheader on Saturday starting at noon, followed by a noon contest on Sunday to close the series.
West Virginia comes in to the weekend after being swept by league leader St. John’s last weekend in Morgantown. The Red Storm outscored WVU 26-12 in the three-game series and the Mountaineers have won just three of their last 11 league contests. WVU also had to find a replacement for freshman third baseman Vince Belnome, who was batting .355 before being lost for the season with a knee injury suffered in the 8-7 loss to St. John’s on April 27.
Villanova took two of three at Cincinnati last weekend after being swept at Pitt on April 20-22. The Wildcats were scheduled to take on Penn State in State College on Wednesday, but the game was rained out.
Junior Derek Shunk’s .421 batting average is in the top three in the BIG EAST. Shunk has one home run and 26 RBI while power hitter Dan Terpak has six home runs and 37 RBI.
Mike Loree (5-2) leads a Wildcat pitching staff that has a 4.82 ERA. Loree has a team high 66.1 innings pitched, but has just 31 strikeouts.
The Wildcats have won four out of their last five games.
