Baseball: WVU Faces Maryland Schools
April 05, 2010 03:34 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
April 5, 2010
TOWSON GAME NOTES
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| Jedd Gyorko |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team plays back-to-back games against Towson and Maryland on April 6 and 7, respectively, in its quest to get back to .500 on the season.
The Mountaineers (13-14, 2-4) face Towson in a home contest on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m., then head to College Park, Md., on Wednesday to face UM at 6 p.m.
“Both teams will provide a great test for our ballclub,” coach Greg Van Zant said. “Towson is a solid program that has faced some tough competition this season, and Maryland is one of our school’s best out-of-state rivals. Both games will help us prepare for another important conference weekend.”
WVU was recently swept in its home-opening conference series against Connecticut, a popular pick to make the NCAA Tournament. Prior to the series, WVU had won eight of its last 10 games.
WVU is 11-10 against non-conference opponents this season, winning seven of its last eight games. It has a .298 batting average against non-conference foes, compared to a .280 mark overall, and slugs 27 points higher (.411) in games outside the BIG EAST compared to its overall numbers.
Although the Mountaineers had some difficulty at the plate against Connecticut, junior Jedd Gyorko reached two career milestones in the series. The Morgantown native surpassed former Mountaineer Kurtis Clinton for seventh-place on the school’s all-time RBIs list with 144, and tied WVU baseball alum Austin Markel for fifth on the school’s career extra base hits list with 82.
Gyorko is batting .349 with team-highs of six home runs and 24 RBIs this season. Junior Dom Hayes, who recently ended his 10-game hitting streak, is fourth in the BIG EAST and first on the team with a .433 average. During his 10-game hitting span, he batted .486 with six doubles, one triple and six RBIs, while slugging at a .703 clip and reaching base nearly 56 percent of the time.
The Mountaineers enter Tuesday’s contest among the nation’s best in sacrifice bunts, leading the BIG EAST with 38. Centerfielder Mark Dvoroznak has a team-leading eight sacrifice bunts, and is also the only everyday position player who has yet to commit an error this season.
WVU is 2-2-1 all-time against Towson, splitting with the Tigers (8-20, 5-4) in 2003 in a two-game home series. Towson, a member of the Colonial Athletic Association, recently swept Georgia State in three high-scoring affairs – 14-8, 19-18 and 14-13. It has also faced two top-ranked teams this season in Arizona State and Virginia, falling a combined six times to both clubs.
Senior first baseman Steve Yarsinsky leads the team with a .379 average, seven home runs, 24 RBIs and a .647 slugging percentage. Senior outfielder Kevin Collins is the team leader with 29 RBIs, and is batting an impressive .377 this season.
The Tigers have struggled on the mound, showing an 8.56 team ERA. Their top pitcher is redshirt freshman reliever Sean Thompson, a right-hander who has a 2.70 ERA in four ap¬pearances.
The Terrapins (12-17, 3-9) own a 32-17-1 edge over WVU, and took one of three from nationally-ranked North Carolina last weekend. UM also owns a 5-2 victory over second-ranked Georgia Tech, defeating arguably the nation’s top pitcher in Deck McGuire, and beat nationally-ranked Virginia Tech, 10-0, on March 12 in Blacksburg, Va.
Former Mountaineer Brandon Padula is leading Maryland with a .433 batting average and a .577 slugging percentage. Matt Marquis has some of UM’s better power numbers at the plate, leading the team with four home runs and driving in 16 runs.
Reliever John Dischert is the Terrapins’ top reliever, showing a 2.18 ERA in 11 appearances and 20.2 innings pitched. Dischert has also struck out 27 and walked just three batters.
The team’s top starter is junior right-hander Blair Delean, who is 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts. Delean has also made seven relief appearances.
In last year’s matchup against Maryland, senior reliever Andy Altemus threw six shutout innings in relief as WVU fell to the Terrapins, 8-7.
