Baseball Opener
February 22, 2008 10:04 AM | General
February 22, 2008
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| Matt Yurish |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – If the weatherman cooperates, West Virginia will open the 2008 baseball season today against Akron at Ernie Shore Stadium in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The two teams are scheduled to play a four-game weekend series, but today’s weather forecast in Winston-Salem is calling for freezing rain and temperatures in the low 40s which could force this afternoon’s 3 pm game getting pushed back to tomorrow.
For the first time ever, college baseball has adopted an opening day meaning schools in all regions cannot begin the season before this date. West Virginia is hoping to get some early momentum before opening its conference schedule against Pitt on March 20.
“The Big East is the most important part of the schedule and we’ve got to get our guys ready for that portion of our schedule,” said West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant, who owns a 378-323-1 record entering his 14th season.
This year’s team is one of the youngest Van Zant has fielded at WVU with just four seniors and six juniors.
“I think we have a good ball club regardless of our youth, age or inexperience,” Van Zant said. “I told the team, ‘Let’s not wait two or three years to be good. Let’s be good right now.’”
Van Zant is expected to use Matt Yurish, Josh Whitlock and Billy Gross on the mound this weekend. Yurish won four games last year as a junior and has an 11-9 record for his career. The lefthander made 12 starts and had a 4.48 earned run average in 82 1/3 innings pitched.
Whitlock went 7-5 with a 3.51 earned run averaged on 69 strikeouts in 74 1/3 innings pitched in 2007. Gross was 5-1 with a 5.91 earned run average in 32 innings of work. The fourth starter could come from a number of candidates including Old Dominion transfer Ross Fetterly and mid-year transfer Steve Morrison.
“I like our pitching depth,” Van Zant said. “We many not run out there the best pitcher in America in any one game but we’ve got more pitching depth than we’ve had in quite a while.”
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| Tyler Kuhn |
Van Zant also expects to field a solid lineup with what he calls a “quality player” at each spot. The infield will feature Tyler Kuhn at short, Vince Belnome at third, Jedd Gyroko at second and Joe Agreste at first. Both Kuhn and Agreste have previously been drafted.
The starting outfield could feature Austin Markel in right, Mark Dvoroznak in center and Grant Buckner in left. Markel batted .324 with four home runs ad 36 RBI in 51 games last year.
Van Zant has two good catchers to utilize in Justin Parks and freshman Tobias Streich, who turned down an offer from the Oakland A’s to play college baseball.
“Both of those guys are going to catch,” Van Zant said.
Chris Enourato could get the nod today at designated hitter and he is also available to close on the mound. Enourato had five saves last year as a freshman.
“Chris came here as a freshman and established himself as a competitor,” Van Zant said. “We’re going to try to get him 30-40 appearances. We haven’t had a guy that has a durable arm like his.”
Akron had a 23-24 record last year under second-year coach Pat Bankston. The Zips had eight last-at-bat wins last year and return three starting pitchers including junior righthander Frank Turocy who posted a 4-3 record with a 5.47 earned run average in 79 innings of work.
Akron’s top returning power threat is senior Kurt Davidson, who batted .325 with 10 home runs and 44 RBI in 2007. Doug McNulty batted .356 with four home runs and 36 RBI in 2007; Brett Savage hit .344 with a pair of home runs.
These two teams last met in Morgantown in 2006 with the Mountaineers claiming a 10-6 win at Hawley Field. WVU leads the series with a 14-9 record.
