Baseball: WVU Drops Game Three to UofL
April 18, 2010 05:44 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
April 18, 2010
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| Grant Buckner |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A quiet day at the plate combined with some superb pitching by No. 12 Louisville resulted in the West Virginia University baseball team falling to the Cardinals, 10-1, in the final game of the series on Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field.
After losing game two of yesterday’s doubleheader in extra innings, the Mountaineers (16-20, 3-9) were unable to regroup against Louisville starter Gabriel Shaw (4-0). The right-hander surrendered just one run on five hits with six strikeouts in eight innings pitched, as WVU was limited to just seven hits on the afternoon.
For the third straight time this series, WVU was forced to play from behind early in the game. With two outs, Louisville second baseman Ryan Wright hammered a full-count offering from WVU starter Andy Berry (1-3) over the left field wall, giving Louisville an early 1-0 lead.
The Cardinals (29-6, 9-3) scored the next five runs to take a 6-0 lead through the middle of the fifth. The Mountaineers were primed for a big inning in the fourth, when back-to-back doubles by Grant Buckner and Justin McDavid put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Freshman Matt Malloy then struck out looking, Colin Durborow flew out to shallow left field and Jeremy Gum ended the frame with a flyout to right field.
McDavid, who finished 1-for-4, extended his hitting streak to 12 games. Buckner was the lone Mountaineer to record multiple hits, going 2-for-4.
Louisville’s top four hitters did most of its damage this afternoon. Jeff Arnold, Adam Duvall, Wright and Phil Wunderlich combined to go 13-for-23 with two home runs, nine RBIs and six runs scored off three WVU pitchers. UofL recorded 18 base hits for the second straight game, tying for the third-most allowed by the Mountaineers this season.
WVU’s lone run came in the bottom of the fifth off the bat of Jedd Gyorko, who drove in Mark Dvoroznak on a groundout to the shortstop. Dvoroznak scored from third base after tripling through the left center gap, the first of his career.
Gyorko singled in his last at-bat in the eighth inning to tie former Mountaineer Josh Williamson for fourth in career base hits with 244.
Reliever Chris Enourato pitched in long relief once again. The Bridgeport native made his first appearance since spraining his ankle at St. John’s on April 11, his 13th of the season.
WVU returns to non-conference play on Wednesday, April 21, at Duquesne in Pittsburgh. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
