JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The West Virginia University baseball team earned its first victory of the season in a 4-3 victory over North Florida on Sunday afternoon at Harmon Stadium.
The win also was the first for coach Randy Mazey in a WVU uniform after dropping the first two games of the series to the Ospreys.
"We got tremendous pitching today, we only walked one guy and we played unbelievable defense in the middle of the field turning four double plays," Mazey says. "Bobby Boyd set the tone today by stretching a single into a double and let everybody in the dugout know that we were here to play. We still have a lot to work on, but it was an outstanding win today."
The Mountaineer offense stayed hot in game three, pumping out a series high 13 hits compared to UNF’s nine. Neither team committed an error in the finale.
Center fielder Bobby Boyd had three hits, two stolen bases and one run to lead the Mountaineers at the plate. Right fielder Brady Wilson also knocked three hits with a triple and two RBIs. Left fielder Jacob Rice, first baseman Ryan McBroom and second baseman Billy Fleming each recorded two hits apiece.
Right-hander Dan Dierdorff earned the win, allowing two runs on seven hits with two strikeouts in 6.1 innings. Dierdorff was impressive in pressure situations and induced the Ospreys into three double plays.
"We teach our pitchers to pitch down in the zone and he was outstanding at that today," Mazey says.
Dierdorff gave way to righty Pascal Paul in the seventh, who followed suit and forced Corey Bass into a first-pitch inning-ending double play to get out of the jam. Paul pitched 2.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits with one strikeout for his first career save.
Wilson gave the Mountaineers the go-ahead lead in the fourth inning, breaking a 1-1 tie, with a single through the right side that scored designated hitter Matt Frazer from third base and Fleming from second base.
Pinch hitter Alan Filauro knocked in a key insurance run in the top of the eighth on a full-count single past the diving third baseman to score Wilson, who hit a leadoff triple, from third base.
The teams traded runs in the third inning as Rice gave WVU a 1-0 lead on a two-out single through the left side. UNF tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the inning on a Joe Wielbruda single to left field.
UNF scored its second run of the game in the sixth inning as Ryan Roberson hit into a double play that scored Wielbruda from third base.
UNF starter Nick Allbritton took the loss as he allowed three runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings. Drew Weeks and Spencer Hermann each recorded two hits for the Ospreys.
WVU continues its 10-game road trip next weekend in Winston-Salem, N.C. The Mountaineers will play against Youngstown State on Friday and Saturday and Wake Forest on Saturday and Sunday.
