Austin's Power
April 26, 2008 10:41 PM | General
April 26, 2008
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One thing is for certain with this year’s West Virginia University baseball team: you have to play all 27 outs to beat the Mountaineers at Hawley Field. For the third time this year West Virginia got a game-winning hit in its final at-bat.
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| Austin Markel hits this 1-2 pitch to dead center for the game-winning inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the ninth.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
This time it was Austin Markel’s inside-the-park home run that drove in Jedd Gyorko to give West Virginia at 12-11 come-from-behind victory over Connecticut Saturday afternoon. Markel’s two-strike, two-out hit came off of Husky closer David Erickson, who got Tyler Kuhn looking on a backdoor slider to begin the ninth and also got Mountaineer cleanup hitter Vince Belnome to fly out to left.
In between, Gyorko reached first on a bloop single to right that Connecticut’s Gordon Stevens had trouble playing in the lights. After Belnome’s fly out, Markel crushed an Erickson fastball to straight away center. Connecticut centerfielder Harold Brantley, Jr. got to the ball at the 390 sign and actually had his glove on it. But when he crashed into the metal fence the ball jarred loose.
As Brantley lay injured on the warning track, West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant waved Markel around for the game-winning run.
“The longer that ball was up in the air … I thought this ball was going to get out of here,” said Van Zant. “When the ball got to the fence I thought he caught it. Then I saw the ball came out and was rolling on the warning track. Markel is coming around second toward third and there is nobody out there to get the ball. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Eventually Brantley was able to walk off the field under his own power.
“He was out there for a long time and you hate to see a kid get hurt on a play like that,” said Van Zant. “He’s a really good centerfielder and he made a great effort to try and catch that ball.”
It was a fitting end to a game that lasted nearly five hours due to a pair of rain delays. The game got started 1 ½ late due to a mid-afternoon thunderstorm and the game was suspended for another 44 minutes in the bottom of the second after a second downpour.
“That was a pretty tough day for both teams but especially our team because we came in at noon for a 3 o’clock game and had to take off four tarps plus play a five-hour game,” said Van Zant. “I hope we have enough gas left in the tank for tomorrow.”
When action resumed, West Virginia overcame an early 4-3 Husky lead with a two-run second and a four-run fourth. Kuhn smashed a two-run homer to left in the second and Gyorko added three more in the fourth with a three-run shot to left. It was Kuhn’s team-leading ninth home run of the season while Gyorko got his sixth round-tripper of the season.
Connecticut got back into the game in the eighth off of WVU closer Chris Enourato, who was hit hard by the Huskies. Enourato allowed five hits in 1 2/3 innings including Peter Fatse’s grand slam. However, the sophomore was able to come back out and put up a zero in the ninth to give the Mountaineers an opportunity to win the game.
“Chris got Fatse to 2-2 and the kid hit a slider out of the park,” said Van Zant. “You’ve got to give him credit.”
WVU starter Stephen Morrison pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up six earned runs on nine hits. Jarryd Summers and Eric Saffell pitched 1/3 of an inning each. Enourato is credited with the win to improve to 5-0.
“Like I told our kids after the game, the best pitchers in baseball are going to give up runs and give up base hits,” Van Zant said. “But there is not another guy in America that I would rather have out there in that situation than Chris. He competes. I’ll tell you what he did, after the kid hit the home run he didn’t shut it down. He went right back out there and competed and held them right where they were at.”
Erickson takes the loss and falls to 1-2. Connecticut starter Dan Mahoney lasted just four innings, giving up nine earned runs on seven hits.
Kuhn and Gyorko both had three hits each for West Virginia, now 31-11, 10-7. Joe Agreste was 2 for 4 with two RBI.
Pierre LePage went 3 for 6 for Connecticut, which falls to 21-24, 7-13. Connecticut out-hit West Virginia 15-11.
“You have to give Connecticut a lot of credit because they played hard and they just kept pecking away,” said Van Zant.
The victory was critical for West Virginia. The Mountaineers solidified their fifth-place position in the league standings and also picks up the tiebreaker against the Huskies should both finish the season with identical records.
“The thing about our team the whole year is that we never quit,” said Van Zant. “When you do that you have a chance.”
The Mountaineers go for the sweep on Sunday when the two teams meet at 1 pm. WAJR-AM 1440 and WWVU-FM 92 will carry the game live in Morgantown.
