Baseball: WVU Clinches Despite Loss
May 19, 2011 10:49 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite a hard-fought 6-4 loss to Rutgers on Thursday night at Hawley Field, the West Virginia University baseball team clinched a spot in the 2011 BIG EAST Championship.
With Pitt’s victory over South Florida this evening, it mathematically put the Mountaineers into the tournament, as WVU holds the tie-breaker against the Bulls after winning two of three in the season series.
Down 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, West Virginia was able to load the bases, but only managed one run out of the threat. Redshirt freshman T.J. Kuban had a great at bat that led to a walk to start the frame. After Rutgers reliever Rob Corsi got two outs, he walked redshirt senior Mark Dvoroznak. Sophomore Brady Wilson loaded the bases with a heads up bunt single down the third base line to bring the winning run to the plate. Senior Kevin Griffin smacked a pinch hit single through the left side, scoring Kuban and advancing the runners one base to bring the score to 6-4. Redshirt senior Grant Buckner came to the plate, but was unable to connect, striking out to end the game.
Wilson led all WVU hitters with two hits and a run scored, while eight WVU batters recorded at least one hit. A single by Buckner in the bottom of the eight advanced his reaching base streak to 45 games and his hit streak to 11 games.
The Mountaineers (27-24, 13-12) finished with four runs on 10 hits, while Rutgers (19-29, 10-15) scored six runs on seven hits. Each team recorded one error.
West Virginia scored its first run in the bottom of the fifth when Dvoroznak hit a single to left field that scored freshman Isac Franklin. Franklin reached after legging out a double to right center.
Sophomore Chris Rasky brought the score to 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh with his first home run of the season to right center field.
The Mountaineers also scored in the bottom of the eight when Wilson and Buckner each hit singles with Wilson advancing home on a sacrifice fly by redshirt senior Jeremy Gum to right field, bringing the score to 5-3.
Rutgers got an important sixth run in the top of the ninth with Pat Sweeney laying down a bunt single towards second base, advancing to third on a single by Michael Lang and then scored on a ground out to second by Nick Favatella.
Mountaineer starting pitcher Josh McCauley was cruising along with two outs in the top of the second, but then began to lose control and walked Michael Zavala and Jeff Melillo. McCauley then hit Sweeney with a pitch to load the bases and walked in Zavala from third, issuing a free pass to Lang. Favatella and D.J. Anderson each had RBI singles to bring the score to 4-0 in favor of Rutgers.
Favatella scored Rutgers’ fifth run in the top of the fifth after reaching on an error to begin the inning and driven in by a Brian O’Grady sacrifice fly to right field.
Anderson finished the evening 3 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. Lang had a 2-for-4 performance with a run and an RBI.
Freshman Josh Harlow pitched a career-high 7.1 innings of relief for WVU, allowing just four hits and one earned run. McCauley (1-5) took the loss with 1.2 innings pitched, three hits, four runs and three walks.
Tyler Gebler (5-5) earned the victory with 7.1 innings pitched and three runs allowed on eight hits. Gebler also struck out three, while not issuing a walk. Jerry Elsing earned the save, striking out Buckner to end the game.
The two squads will return to action tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m., for the final “Dollar Night” of the season, with all tickets and select concessions costing just $1.
With Pitt’s victory over South Florida this evening, it mathematically put the Mountaineers into the tournament, as WVU holds the tie-breaker against the Bulls after winning two of three in the season series.
Down 6-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, West Virginia was able to load the bases, but only managed one run out of the threat. Redshirt freshman T.J. Kuban had a great at bat that led to a walk to start the frame. After Rutgers reliever Rob Corsi got two outs, he walked redshirt senior Mark Dvoroznak. Sophomore Brady Wilson loaded the bases with a heads up bunt single down the third base line to bring the winning run to the plate. Senior Kevin Griffin smacked a pinch hit single through the left side, scoring Kuban and advancing the runners one base to bring the score to 6-4. Redshirt senior Grant Buckner came to the plate, but was unable to connect, striking out to end the game.
Wilson led all WVU hitters with two hits and a run scored, while eight WVU batters recorded at least one hit. A single by Buckner in the bottom of the eight advanced his reaching base streak to 45 games and his hit streak to 11 games.
The Mountaineers (27-24, 13-12) finished with four runs on 10 hits, while Rutgers (19-29, 10-15) scored six runs on seven hits. Each team recorded one error.
West Virginia scored its first run in the bottom of the fifth when Dvoroznak hit a single to left field that scored freshman Isac Franklin. Franklin reached after legging out a double to right center.
Sophomore Chris Rasky brought the score to 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh with his first home run of the season to right center field.
The Mountaineers also scored in the bottom of the eight when Wilson and Buckner each hit singles with Wilson advancing home on a sacrifice fly by redshirt senior Jeremy Gum to right field, bringing the score to 5-3.
Rutgers got an important sixth run in the top of the ninth with Pat Sweeney laying down a bunt single towards second base, advancing to third on a single by Michael Lang and then scored on a ground out to second by Nick Favatella.
Mountaineer starting pitcher Josh McCauley was cruising along with two outs in the top of the second, but then began to lose control and walked Michael Zavala and Jeff Melillo. McCauley then hit Sweeney with a pitch to load the bases and walked in Zavala from third, issuing a free pass to Lang. Favatella and D.J. Anderson each had RBI singles to bring the score to 4-0 in favor of Rutgers.
Favatella scored Rutgers’ fifth run in the top of the fifth after reaching on an error to begin the inning and driven in by a Brian O’Grady sacrifice fly to right field.
Anderson finished the evening 3 for 4 with an RBI and a walk. Lang had a 2-for-4 performance with a run and an RBI.
Freshman Josh Harlow pitched a career-high 7.1 innings of relief for WVU, allowing just four hits and one earned run. McCauley (1-5) took the loss with 1.2 innings pitched, three hits, four runs and three walks.
Tyler Gebler (5-5) earned the victory with 7.1 innings pitched and three runs allowed on eight hits. Gebler also struck out three, while not issuing a walk. Jerry Elsing earned the save, striking out Buckner to end the game.
The two squads will return to action tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m., for the final “Dollar Night” of the season, with all tickets and select concessions costing just $1.
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