Griffin's Walk-Off Homer Carries WVU
May 22, 2010 02:58 PM | General
May 22, 2010
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| Kevin Griffin |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With two outs and trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth inning, West Virginia catcher Kevin Griffin stepped up to the plate and jacked a three-run home run to give the Mountaineer baseball team a 3-2 victory over Villanova, Saturday afternoon, at Hawley Field.
"As soon as I hit that one, I knew it was getting out of here," said Griffin. "I was just looking for a fastball to drive."
Griffin ripped a first-pitch fastball off of Villanova reliever Mike Francisco well over the left field wall off the Hawley Field ticket booth.
"Griff did a great job there," coach Greg Van Zant said. "He looked for a pitch and crushed it and that's what you've got to do to win tight games. Your guys have got to step up in big situations like Kevin did."
"This guy came in yesterday with pretty good (velocity), throwing 90-92 (mph) and was trying to throw fastballs by a lot of guys," Griffin said. "It was a first pitch fastball and so I was sitting on that first one and got ahold of it."
WVU’s (27-28, 10-17 BIG EAST) Justin McDavid opened the final frame with a one-out single up the middle. Jeremy Gum followed suit with a single through the right side, moving McDavid to second with one out. Colin Durborow, who was inserted as a pinch-hitter for Chris Rasky, sent an offering into center field for a single. Then, pinch-runner Chase Pickering was thrown out at second, leaving the Mountaineers down to their final out. With runners on first and third, Griffin belted the first pitch of his at-bat over the left-field wall for his fifth home run of the year to lead WVU to victory.
Until the ninth, the Wildcats had received a strong pitching performance from starter Kevin MacLachlan. Before being pulled in the last inning, the right-hander tossed 8.1 innings, allowing one run on six hits, while walking three.
Villanova (29-23, 9-18 BIG EAST) opened the scoring in the second inning. Kevin Wager led off the inning with a single up the middle. Following a single from David Koczirka, the Wildcats’ Tyler Sciacca drew a walk to load the bases.
Mountaineer pitcher Andy Altemus (6-5) came on in relief. WVU collected two outs on a pair of fielders’ choices, preventing any runs from crossing the plate. Leadoff hitter Justin Bencsko, however, was able to get a walk, plating Sciacca and giving Villanova an early 1-0 lead, before Altemus bailed WVU out of the jam.
The Wildcats added to their lead in the third inning. Matt Szczur led off the frame with a line-drive triple to left field and scored on left fielder Rasky’s throwing error.
Following the third inning, Altemus shut down the Wildcats hitters, going eight innings to complete the game, allowing one run on six hits.
"Altemus and (Chris) Enourato carried us in this series," Van Zant said. "We're fortunate we've got those guys. You could start them, but Andy is so used to coming out of the bullpen. Even if you bring him in during the first inning, he's still more comfortable than starting."
Offensively, Villanova was led by third baseman Koczirka, who finished the game with three hits.
The Mountaineers now await the result of game three between Louisville and Notre Dame. If Louisville wins, WVU advances to the BIG EAST Tournament. However, if Notre Dame wins, the Fighting Irish will take the eighth and final spot to advance to the conference tournament.
"It just shows you how much these guys want it and how hard they work," Griffin said. "Yeah, we were thrown up against the three toughest teams in the BIG EAST to start the year off and got off to a real slow start. But you come out to practice everyday and work hard, and it pays off. You see it in this last month - we have really come on strong and won a lot of games."
