Winding Down
May 18, 2010 11:12 AM | General
May 18, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Chris Enourato knows the end to his college playing career is near. Just how near still remains in his hands. The season (and Enourato’s career) boils down to a three-game series against Villanova this weekend at Hawley Field.
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| Chris Enourato's 21 saves and 70 career appearances are a school record.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
In order to finish in the top eight in the Big East and earn a tournament bid, West Virginia (8-16) must pick up two games on either Notre Dame or Cincinnati, both 10-14 in conference play. Of the two, the Mountaineers have a much better chance of catching Notre Dame, which they swept in Morgantown two weeks ago.
Three West Virginia wins over Villanova and two Irish losses to nationally ranked Louisville, or sweeps by the Mountaineers and the Cardinals will get WVU into the tournament. Not impossible, but certainly not a sure thing.
“We are just going to approach these games the same way we did last weekend (at Georgetown),” said Enourato. “We’ve been playing pretty well lately and hopefully we can keep that going into this weekend.”
West Virginia has won six of its last seven heading into Tuesday afternoon’s game at Towson, bringing its overall record to 24-27. Less than a month ago the team’s record was 18-26 and it looked like the Mountaineers had packed it in after suffering a three-game sweep at Cincinnati. Enourato, one of just three seniors on the team, got together with the other veteran players for a heart to heart after the Bearcat series.
“We talked about not giving up and what we needed to do to get better,” he said. “The pitching staff got together and set some goals.”
Enourato said what came out of that meeting was the staff’s decision to try and limit their walks for the remainder of the year. West Virginia has led the Big East in walks issued for most of the year (WVU’s 251 walks is currently second to St. John’s 262) for an average of nearly five free passes per game. In its last seven games the Mountaineers have reduced their walks to 3.4 per game. Twice in wins against Notre Dame and Bethune-Cookman, West Virginia pitchers had fewer than two walks including a walk-free performance in the win against the Irish.
“If you look at the past two weekends we have been walking two or three as opposed to five or six,” said Enourato. “I think some of it has to do with confidence and a willingness to throw the ball into the strike zone. We’re trying to be perfect and not let them hit it instead of letting the fielders make plays.”
Enourato’s successful college pitching career has been a testament to that philosophy.
The Bridgeport High product ranks No. 1 in WVU history in career saves (21) and appearances (70), and is eighth in victories with 18 – all of those coming in relief. If you add together his win and save totals, Chris has been involved in 39 Mountaineer victories during his four-year career. No other pitcher in school history can come close to making that claim.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around some really good players,” Enourato said. “Most of the teams I have been on since I’ve been here have been offensive orientated. It’s easier to go out there and pitch when you have some runs on the board.”
Enourato has been a part of some big wins at WVU and he says a few stick out more than the others. One happened during his freshman year out in South Bend against Notre Dame; two others took place last year against South Florida at Hawley Field.
“Out at Notre Dame it was the weekend of their spring football game so there was a big crowd at the stadium to watch the game,” Enourato recalled. “The game was close when I came in and we ended up winning 13-7. I was a freshman then and I didn’t really realize what was going on. It was just a really exciting game for me.
“And last year there was a series with South Florida and we got rained out on Friday and had to play a Saturday doubleheader,” Enourato said. “I came in and pitched the game that got carried over to Saturday – I pitched the last two innings and we won that game. Then in the following game we were down like 13-2 in the eighth inning and we came all the way back. In the last inning I came in and shut them out, then Austin Markel hit a home run and we won that game. That was pretty exciting.”
Unfortunately, exciting moments have been harder to come by this year.
“Obviously you want to win every game but that’s not realistic,” Enourato said. “I wish I could have thrown better in some games and I’m sure everybody else wishes they could have played better to win. We’ve played some pretty good teams, too … Connecticut, Louisville and Pitt. I think this is Pitt’s best team in school history and Louisville is a great team. That’s nine of our losses right there.”
Enourato said there is a noticeable difference this year between the Big East’s top three teams and the rest of the conference.
“I tell this to people all of the time, ‘If you go to Miami and watch them play you won’t find much of a difference between the hitters and the position players,’” he explained. “Jedd Gyorko or Grant Buckner could start on those teams. Even (No. 1 starting pitcher) Jarryd Summers could start on the weekend for any team pretty much.
“I think the biggest difference is they bring guys out of the pen that are throwing just about as good as their starters,” Enourato said. “They’re all throwing about 90 miles per hour. The pitching depth is the biggest reason for those teams being so good.”
Enourato has pro aspirations after this season and he says he has been in contact with a few organizations.
“I’ve met with San Diego and Oakland and really they talk about how they work in their organization and the type of facilities you get to use,” Enourato said. “They basically were selling their organization instead of talking about, ‘We’re going to sign you here and pitch you here.’”
Enourato knows the unpredictable nature of the draft and is not putting all of his eggs in one basket. If pro baseball doesn’t work out, he has already made plans to return to WVU to begin work on a master’s degree in education with a future goal of becoming a college baseball coach.
“If the coaching thing doesn’t work out I will be able to teach and coach in high school,” he said.
For now, Enourato would like to delay those plans for as long as possible.
“It’s tough because I’ve been playing this game since I was three years old,” he said. “I really want to make the tournament, but I won’t consider it a failure if we don’t. We are going to go out there and do the best that we can and hopefully we come out on the right end.”
