Baseball: Belnome’s Walk-off Hit Lifts WVU, 5-4
May 11, 2008 05:44 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
May 11, 2008
BOX SCORE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team defeated the Louisville Cardinals in 10 innings, 5-4, in the rubber game of the three-game series on a rain-filled Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field.
Vince Belnome led WVU with a 2-for-5 afternoon, including a walk-off single to center field that plated Tyler Kuhn to give the Mountaineers (34-15, 13-11) the come-from-behind win. Trailing 4-2 entering the bottom of the ninth, WVU scored two runs with two outs in the ninth inning and added the game’s final run in the 10th to secure the win.
Kuhn and designated hitter Grant Buckner had two hits apiece as WVU pounded 11 hits against the Cardinals (34-18, 14-10). Reliever Jarryd Summers (4-2) earned the win for the Mountaineers after pitching four scoreless innings and only allowing two hits.
Louisville closer B.J. Rosenberg (5-4) blew the save after giving up the final three runs. He pitched 3.2 innings and allowed four hits while striking out two.
The Cardinals did their best to end a three-inning pitcher’s duel by jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth. Jeff Arnold began with a walk, and Andrew Clark followed with a single. Josh Richmond then hit a run-scoring single to left field, and two batters later John Dao hit an opposite-field single to right to plate two more Cardinals.
In the sixth inning Louisville added another run when Richmond notched his second RBI of the day with a run-scoring infield single to third base.
After a rain delay of over two hours, WVU climbed back into the game by scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth. Facing new reliever Gavin Logsdon, Justin Parks led off with a walk, and Kuhn hit a single to right-center and advanced to second base on an error. With two runners in scoring position, Jedd Gyorko hit an RBI single to center field to give WVU its first run. Belnome followed with a fielder’s choice to second base that scored Kuhn, making it 4-2.
In the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitter Brent Lockhart hit an RBI double down the left field line to trim the WVU deficit, and Parks hit a two-out RBI single to left field that plated Buckner to send the game into extra innings.
The Mountaineers return to action with a doubleheader against Youngstown State on Monday, May 12. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
