Baseball: WVU Closes Out Regular Season
May 18, 2011 01:54 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After four consecutive road games, the West Virginia University baseball team returns to Hawley Field this weekend for a three-game BIG EAST series against Rutgers. The teams are slated to play at 7:05 p.m. on Thursday, 7:05 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
All three games are scheduled to be video streamed through MSNsportsNET.com with Kyle Wiggs calling the play-by-play and Ernie Galusky providing color commentary. The games also will be broadcasted in Morgantown on WAJR-1440.
Friday evening’s game has been designated as a “Dollar Night,” as all tickets and select concessions will be just $1 each.
Prior to Saturday’s game, WVU will hold Senior Day ceremonies and honor Andy Berry, Marcus Broadwater, Grant Buckner, Colin Durborow, Mark Dvoroznak, Kevin Griffin, Jeremy Gum, Jonathan Hash, Justin McDavid and Matt Morrone.
The series will be the final regular-season games for both teams, with the Mountaineers currently tied with Cincinnati for fourth place in the BIG EAST. WVU holds the tie-breaker over the Bearcats, taking two of three earlier this season. Rutgers is currently in 10th place and along with WVU, is looking to earn a berth in the BIG EAST Championship.
“We need one win to get to the tournament and that’s what we’re going to try and do,” coach Greg Van Zant said. “That’s no different than any weekend we play all year, we always try to win just one game. If we can win Thursday, that would be great. If not, we’ll try to win Friday.”
Among BIG EAST members, West Virginia is ranked third in team batting average (.300), 10th in team earned-run average (5.07) and first in team fielding percentage (.972).
Buckner continues to lead the team with a .364 batting average, 45 runs, 13 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 41 RBIs. In conference games, Buckner leads the BIG EAST with a .438 average, including 22 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 21 RBIs.
Gum is ninth in the conference with a .348 batting average, 12th in the conference with a .525 slugging percentage and first in hit by pitches with 21. He also has 30 runs, 14 doubles, one triple, four home runs and 37 RBIs.
Sophomore Brady Wilson (.332), redshirt junior Dan DiBartolomeo (.326) and redshirt freshman T.J. Kuban (.319) are all batting over .300, with Wilson leading the team with 12 stolen bases.
Junior righty Josh McCauley is expected to earn the start on Thursday for the Mountaineers, while redshirt freshman left-hander Marshall Thompson will start on Friday and Berry will start the series finale. Berry leads all pitchers with a 7-3 record, while Thompson has struck out 47 batters.
Offensively, Rutgers is led by Michael Lang who carries a .331 batting average with a team-leading 37 runs and nine doubles. Lang also has contributed two home runs and 11 RBIs. Russ Hopkins leads the squad with 25 RBIs, while batting .222. Pat Sweeney is batting .302 with 10 runs, two doubles and seven RBIs.
The Scarlet Knights are batting .247 as a team (10th in the BIG EAST), have racked up a 4.27 ERA (eighth in the BIG EAST) and are fielding at a .969 clip (seventh in the BIG EAST).
Right-hander Tyler Gebler will start on Thursday, followed by left-hander Rob Smorol on Friday and right-hander Ryan Fasano on Saturday. Gebler has a 4-5 record with a 3.19 ERA. Smorol is 3-7 and has struck out a team-high 63 batters, while Fasano is making just his sixth start of the season and is 1-0 with a 3.04 ERA.
All three games are scheduled to be video streamed through MSNsportsNET.com with Kyle Wiggs calling the play-by-play and Ernie Galusky providing color commentary. The games also will be broadcasted in Morgantown on WAJR-1440.
Friday evening’s game has been designated as a “Dollar Night,” as all tickets and select concessions will be just $1 each.
Prior to Saturday’s game, WVU will hold Senior Day ceremonies and honor Andy Berry, Marcus Broadwater, Grant Buckner, Colin Durborow, Mark Dvoroznak, Kevin Griffin, Jeremy Gum, Jonathan Hash, Justin McDavid and Matt Morrone.
The series will be the final regular-season games for both teams, with the Mountaineers currently tied with Cincinnati for fourth place in the BIG EAST. WVU holds the tie-breaker over the Bearcats, taking two of three earlier this season. Rutgers is currently in 10th place and along with WVU, is looking to earn a berth in the BIG EAST Championship.
“We need one win to get to the tournament and that’s what we’re going to try and do,” coach Greg Van Zant said. “That’s no different than any weekend we play all year, we always try to win just one game. If we can win Thursday, that would be great. If not, we’ll try to win Friday.”
Among BIG EAST members, West Virginia is ranked third in team batting average (.300), 10th in team earned-run average (5.07) and first in team fielding percentage (.972).
Buckner continues to lead the team with a .364 batting average, 45 runs, 13 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 41 RBIs. In conference games, Buckner leads the BIG EAST with a .438 average, including 22 runs, 10 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 21 RBIs.
Gum is ninth in the conference with a .348 batting average, 12th in the conference with a .525 slugging percentage and first in hit by pitches with 21. He also has 30 runs, 14 doubles, one triple, four home runs and 37 RBIs.
Sophomore Brady Wilson (.332), redshirt junior Dan DiBartolomeo (.326) and redshirt freshman T.J. Kuban (.319) are all batting over .300, with Wilson leading the team with 12 stolen bases.
Junior righty Josh McCauley is expected to earn the start on Thursday for the Mountaineers, while redshirt freshman left-hander Marshall Thompson will start on Friday and Berry will start the series finale. Berry leads all pitchers with a 7-3 record, while Thompson has struck out 47 batters.
Offensively, Rutgers is led by Michael Lang who carries a .331 batting average with a team-leading 37 runs and nine doubles. Lang also has contributed two home runs and 11 RBIs. Russ Hopkins leads the squad with 25 RBIs, while batting .222. Pat Sweeney is batting .302 with 10 runs, two doubles and seven RBIs.
The Scarlet Knights are batting .247 as a team (10th in the BIG EAST), have racked up a 4.27 ERA (eighth in the BIG EAST) and are fielding at a .969 clip (seventh in the BIG EAST).
Right-hander Tyler Gebler will start on Thursday, followed by left-hander Rob Smorol on Friday and right-hander Ryan Fasano on Saturday. Gebler has a 4-5 record with a 3.19 ERA. Smorol is 3-7 and has struck out a team-high 63 batters, while Fasano is making just his sixth start of the season and is 1-0 with a 3.04 ERA.
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