Dog Days of April
April 08, 2008 01:29 PM | General
April 8, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The road from here on out is going to be considerably more difficult for the West Virginia University baseball team.
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| Senior lefthander Matt Yurish had a strong pitching performance in West Virginia's 5-2 loss to South Florida in 11 innings on Sunday.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
The Mountaineers have forged a nice 24-7 overall record through its first 31 games including a surprising 6-3 mark in Big East play. West Virginia swept a three-game series against Pitt on the opening weekend of conference play, and most recently took two of three from South Florida.
All three games last weekend against the Bulls were dogfights. On Friday, West Virginia came back from being down 6-1 to defeat USF 10-8 in a postponed game that was completed Saturday afternoon. The Mountaineers scored 11 in the final three innings to outlast South Florida, 15-14 after being down 13-4 heading into the eighth. WVU actually had a chance for the sweep with a pair of runners on with one out in the bottom of the 10th before losing game three, 5-2 in 11 innings.
“That’s Big East baseball. Every single conference game is a knock-down, drag-out deal,” said West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant. “All of the players know it’s such a short season and every game is so important. Since we joined the league there has never been a conference win that we’ve gotten where the other team has handed us the game. Just because you play well it doesn’t mean you’re going to win. But if you play hard and you play well then you have a chance.”
West Virginia is in a similar situation to where it was in 2006 when it got off to a 25-4 start. However, the Mountaineers then dropped nine straight that year and had to fight to reach the Big East Tournament.
The Mountaineers are heading down a similar path this season with all 18 of their remaining conference games coming against the upper half of the conference. And West Virginia’s five mid-week non-conference games that are left on the schedule come against Ohio, Duquesne, Maryland and Youngstown State.
Ohio is presently 15-12 and sits atop the MAC East standings with a 7-2 league mark. Duquesne, which West Virginia faces on consecutive Wednesdays later this month, has its best team in school history while facing one of the strongest non-conference schedules in the country. The Dukes are tied with Charlotte for first place in the Atlantic 10 with an 8-1 record and they have a very strong RPI of 52.
Maryland is currently 18-14 and has already won five games in the ACC, considered the No. 1-ranked baseball conference in the country. Youngstown State, which WVU faces on May 12, has a 3-3 record in Horizon League play.
“They’re all going to be hard because Ohio is having a good season; Duquesne has never had this type of team and we’ve got them twice,” Van Zant said. “Then we’ve got Maryland who is above .500 out of the ACC and then Youngstown State is our last one. Those five games are important.”
And it all starts with Ohio on Wednesday night.
“They’re in first place in their league and they’re playing really well,” Van Zant said. “With us only having six weekends left and five non-conference games it’s a 23-game season and every single game is going to be important for us.”
Promising freshman Jarryd Summers is expected to get the nod on the hill Wednesday night against the Bobcats.
“He has a real high upside and we’re using him like we used Josh Whitlock in the past,” Van Zant explained. “We’ve gotten him into some games where he’s been able to go out there and pitch and not be in real tight situations.
“He started the Coastal Carolina game to get him some big-game experience and he competed very well,” Van Zant said. “Since then this will be his toughest start and I look for him to go out there and compete for us.”
Following Wednesday’s game, West Virginia has a tough three-game series at Seton Hall coming up this weekend. The Pirates are much improved with an 18-12 record including an 8-4 mark in conference play. After that, the Mountaineers face first-place Notre Dame at home for a three-game series.
“Our remaining conference schedule is comprised of the teams with the higher RPIs, whatever that is worth,” Van Zant said.
The veteran coach, who recently collected his 400th career victory last Tuesday against Maryland Eastern Shore, has been pleased with his young team’s daily approach so far this season.
“Several of those March games in bad conditions showed that they really wanted to play and do well,” Van Zant said. “On Sunday when we lost that game to South Florida our players were genuinely hurt. Our guys were not happy. These guys are not only good players, but they work extremely hard and they really want to win.”
Wednesday’s game will air locally on WAJR-AM 1440. Student radio station U-92’s coverage can be accessed on the Internet through MSNsportsNET.com. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm.
