Baseball: Mountaineers Face Morehead State
March 16, 2009 10:26 AM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
March 16, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University baseball team prepares for its second road contest of the season as it faces Ohio Valley Conference opponent Morehead State on Tuesday, March 17, at Allen Field in Morehead, Ky. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
The Mountaineers (11-5) won three of four games over the weekend against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foe Siena, and finished 8-2 during its recent 10-game home swing. Sophomore Dan DiBartolomeo, traditionally WVU’s No. 8 hitter, leads the team with a .481 batting average (26-for-54), and has produced a .648 slugging percentage with one home run and 17 RBIs.
Senior centerfielder Austin Markel enjoyed a superb performance last week, hitting .500 (11-for-22) during WVU’s six-game stretch. The Elizabethville, Pa., native is batting .397 overall, and is tied with catcher Tobias Streich for the team lead with three home runs.
WVU enters the week tied for tenth in the country in offensive runs per game, averaging 10.7 through its nonconference slate. The Mountaineers are also hitting .396 as a team, paced by three batters in DiBartolomeo, Jedd Gyorko (.463) and Vince Belnome (.452) who are all batting above .400.
The Eagles (6-9) recently lost two of three to Canisius, and have faced another common opponent in Indiana, where they fell 18-3 to the Hoosiers. Morehead State is 6-4 over its last 10 games, including a high-scoring four-game sweep over Long Island that produced scores of 27-19 and 23-16.
Junior infielder Drew Lee leads the Eagles with a.450 average, and has produced five home runs, 18 RBIs and six doubles in 13 games played. Morehead State has shown its power at the plate through the young season, tallying 29 home runs overall. Junior outfielder J.D. Ashbrook leads the squad with six home runs, while freshman Taylor Davis is tied with Lee with five round-trippers.
The Mountaineers are 6-3 all-time against the Eagles, with the series beginning in 1976. WVU swept the two-game series in 2008 by scores of 10-5 and 16-6.
WVU’s one-game series with Morehead State will be its final nonconference contest before entering BIG EAST play against Connecticut on March 20-22, in Storrs, Conn. The Mountaineers re-enter their nonconference slate against Southeastern Conference foe Kentucky on Tuesday, March 24, at 6 p.m. at the Mountaineer Diamond Classic in Charleston, W.Va.
