Baseball: WVU Begins BIG EAST Championship
May 25, 2010 11:27 AM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
May 25, 2010
BIG EAST CHAMPIONSHIP NOTES | 
SCORE UPDATES @WVUSportsBuzz
CLEARWATER, FLA. – No. 8 seeded West Virginia looks to keep its improbable season alive when it faces the tournament’s top seed in Louisville on Wednesday, May 26, in the opening round of the BIG EAST Championship at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla.
The Mountaineers (27-28, 10-17) have suddenly emerged as one of the hottest teams in the conference, winning nine of their past 11 games, including seven of their last nine contests in the BIG EAST. Three weeks ago, WVU sat with a 3-15 conference record and was tied for last in the BIG EAST with Georgetown, sitting at five games outside the eighth-place spot.
Photo by Allison Toffle
“We’ve done a heck of a job staying resilient and battling back this season, and hopefully we will use that strength to defeat a quality team in Louisville,” coach Greg Van Zant said. “We’ve seen the Cardinals this season and know what they’re capable of, and we’ll look to stay focused this week and do what it takes to advance in the tournament.”
With some help from its upcoming opponent, as well as the walk-off heroics of junior catcher Kevin Griffin last Saturday, WVU has earned its ninth BIG EAST Championship appearance, including its third straight.
Ninth-ranked Louisville did the Mountaineers a favor by sweeping Notre Dame last weekend en route to winning the conference championship. Both teams met earlier this season in a three-game series in Morgantown, with the Cardinals (46-10, 21-6) coming away with a sweep.
However, WVU nearly nipped UofL in the second game of that series, falling 12-9 in 11 innings. Facing standout closer Neil Holland with one out and the game tied with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, freshman catcher Matt Malloy hit a bloop shot to second baseman Ryan Wright, who then threw an off-balanced throw to home plate that gunned down a tagging Brady Wilson at third base to complete the game-saving double play.
In that series, UofL batted .390 (48-for-123) with six home runs, 30 RBIs and a .610 slugging percentage. A much-improved WVU pitching staff has been a spark in the team’s final 11 games, going 9-2 with a 4.20 ERA while holding the opposition to a .282 batting average.
Two vital pieces on the mound are senior relievers Andy Altemus and Chris Enourato. Altemus earned WVU’s first conference pitcher of the week honor on Monday after allowing just one run in 13.2 innings pitched against Villanova. The quick-working right-hander is tied with Enourato for the team lead with six victories, and is 3-2 with a 4.30 ERA in 14 appearances in conference play.
Enourato, the school’s all-time leading closer, has performed well as the team’s closer and long reliever. He continues to make hitters put the ball in play with a 63-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has thrown at least five innings in eight appearances this year. The Bridgeport native has a 19-6 career record, putting him fifth on WVU’s career winning percentage list.
Through WVU’s 9-2 stretch, the offense has also excelled. The Mountaineers are batting .333 over their last 11 games with 16 home runs, 76 RBIs, 83 runs scored (7.5 runs per game) and a .543 team slugging percentage.
One of the strengths of this year’s offense has been their ability to rack up extra base hits. The 2010 Mountaineers already have 131 doubles to equal the fourth-highest output in school history, and their 193 extra base hits are tied for the fifth-most in a single season at WVU.
The Mountaineers are also on pace to finish above the .300 mark at the plate for the eighth straight season. WVU is currently batting .307.
Junior Jedd Gyorko has been WVU’s marquee hitter this year, leading the team in batting average (.377), home runs (17), RBIs (53), doubles (26), base hits (86), total bases (165), slugging percentage (.724), on-base percentage (.469) and walks (42). He has received eight of the team’s 13 intentional passes, a side note to another All-America caliber season.
Redshirt junior Grant Buckner leads WVU with a .412 batting average in conference play, adding seven home runs and 30 RBIs against a much-improved BIG EAST. Overall, the Elkview native is hitting .365 with eight home runs, 50 RBIs and 17 doubles.
Junior Justin McDavid’s run production has been the highlight of his breakthrough season. McDavid is the only Mountaineer to average over one RBI per game, driving in 53 runs in 49 games played.
Griffin has taken over the full-time catcher spot since playing at Maryland on April 7. In that 27-game span, the Martinsburg resident has thrown out 19 of 51 base runners attempting to steal, nearly 38 percent.
Louisville has won six in a row and 17 of its last 21 since facing WVU on April 17-18. The nationally-ranked Cardinals have defeated several quality opponents this season, including Michigan, Indiana, Ole Miss, Connecticut, Ohio State, Western Kentucky, Pitt, Kentucky and St. John’s.
Starting right-hander Thomas Royse looks to defeat WVU for the second time in as many tries. He is 9-1 with a 2.71 ERA, striking out 88 and allowing just 25 walks in 93 innings. Holland is 7-0 with a 2.08 ERA, holding opponents to a .158 average.
Louisville is batting .319 as a unit, led by Andrew Clark’s .385 mark with 12 home runs and 56 RBIs. Phil Wunderlich is one of the Cardinals’ top sluggers, batting .356 with a team-leading 19 home runs, 55 RBIs and only 12 strikeouts. Ryan Wright (.361), Adam Duvall (.346), Stewart Ijames (.344) and Jeff Arnold (.305) round out UofL’s other top hitters.
Depending on the outcome, WVU will face the winner/loser of No. 4 St. John’s and No. 5 USF on Thursday at either 5 p.m. or 8 p.m.
WVU game status updates will be posted on Twitter at @WVUSportsBuzz. All WVU baseball games at the BIG EAST Championship can be heard locally on WAJR, with Kyle Wiggs on the call. Every tournament game will also be broadcast on XM channel 203, and live video, stats and in-game blogging will be made available on BIGEAST.org.
