Baseball Hosts Ballpark Grand Opening
April 09, 2015 06:20 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team will open Monongalia County Ballpark this weekend when it hosts Butler from April 10-12.
Friday’s opener will begin at 6 p.m., Saturday’s game is set for 4 p.m. and Sunday’s finale will be at 1 p.m.
Friday’s game will feature a commemorative poster and commemorative ticket giveaway courtesy of United Bank.
Other opening day festivities include a pregame ceremony hosted by WVU play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi to celebrate the opening of the new ballpark. West Virginia University President Gordon Gee, Director of Athletics Shane Lyons and baseball coach Randy Mazey will address the crowd during this special ceremony.
“It’s going to be exciting, not just for the team and coaching staff, but for the alumni, the fans, the administration,” Mazey said. “There are so many people who have been involved in this project from the start, it’s going to be a great day for everyone.”
The entire series will feature a free video stream, courtesy of Coca-Cola. The games can be heard throughout the state on affiliates of the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG with Jeff Culhane and Ernie Galusky on the call. Friday and Sunday’s games will be aired locally on the flagship station WRLF 94.3 FM, and all three games will air on flagship station WMMN 920 AM.
Additionally, fans can listen to the broadcast via the WVU Gameday App on their mobile device, as well as the TuneIn Radio App. WVUsports.com also will carry free live audio via the LeanStream Player at WVUsports.com/audio.
West Virginia (18-12) most recently fell 12-7 at Maryland on Tuesday afternoon. Prior to that game, the Mountaineers won 2-of-3 games at Kansas State for their first Big 12 series win of the season.
“Every game of the season in our situation is a really big game,” Mazey said. “We’d love to, for the community’s sake and Mountaineer fans, we’d love to win this game. We’re going to try to not let all of the distractions that are inevitable become distractions. Once the first pitch is thrown hopefully we’ll settle down to baseball and our guys will do what they’ve been doing.”
As a team, WVU has raised its batting average to .283 with 64 doubles, four triples, 30 home runs and 32 stolen bases. Freshman second baseman Kyle Davis paces the team with a .352 batting average and 10 doubles, while adding two homers and 18 RBIs.
Senior shortstop Taylor Munden is hitting .315 with nine doubles, and leads the team with eight home runs, while driving in 21 runs. Sophomore outfielder Shaun Wood has a team-leading 25 RBIs, while senior third baseman Justin Fox is hitting .322 with nine double, one triple and two home runs.
Mazey will utilize a pitching rotation of freshman right-hander Conner Dotson (0-3, 3.86 ERA) on Friday, junior left-hander Ross Vance (4-2, 3.21 ERA) on Saturday and sophomore right-hander Chad Donato (4-3, 1.63 ERA) on Sunday.
Vance tossed a complete game three-hitter in a 5-3 victory at Kansas State last Friday. He allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits with two strikeouts and six walks.
Donato took a no-decision on Saturday at Kansas State, retiring 18 of the final 20 batters he faced. Donato allowed two runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 7.1 innings.
Butler coach Steve Farley will counter with a trio of left-handers in Jeff Schank (2-5, 2.49 ERA) on Friday, Peter Nyznyk (1-1, 5.13 ERA) and Nick Morton (2-3, 6.75 ERA).
As a team, the Bulldogs are hitting .291 with 68 doubles, five triples and 13 home runs, while the pitching staff has posted a 5.49 ERA, striking out 189 batters in 267.1 innings.
Infielder Garrett Christman leads Butler at the plate, batting .370 with six doubles and 15 RBIs, while senior infielder Ryan Wojciechowski is hitting .357 with 11 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 25 RBIs. Outfielder Drew Small has a team-leading 13 doubles and outfielder Tyler Houston and catcher Chris Marras have three home runs apiece.
This will be the first meeting between West Virginia and Butler on the diamond.
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