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Schedule Adjusted as WVU Travels to Old Dominion
March 09, 2017 06:34 PM | Baseball
NORFOLK, Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team concludes its season-opening roadtrip with a weekend series at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia, from March 10-11, and the schedule has been adjusted with colder weather expected on Sunday.
The series will now open with a doubleheader on Friday, March 10, beginning at 2 p.m. ET. The series concludes with a single game on Saturday at 3 p.m., at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex. No game will be played on Sunday.
The series at Old Dominion marks the end of a 12-day, eight game roadtrip for the Mountaineers (7-5), which began with five games in Louisiana from March 2-8. The three games are also WVU’s last before its home opener, after playing the first 15 games away from Morgantown.
The Mountaineers went 2-3 in Louisiana and are coming off a 4-2 12-inning loss at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday night. West Virginia opened the weekend with an 8-1 victory at Nicholls on Thursday, March 2 and followed it up with a series at Tulane. WVU began the Tulane series with a 9-8 loss, followed by a 6-0 defeat on Saturday, before an 18-5 win in Sunday’s finale.
The Monarchs (9-3) have won three of their last four after a mid-week series split against James Madison. Before the two-game split with JMU, Old Dominion took two out of three against Rutgers. All but one of ODU’s games has been at home.
A trio of right-handers will start for the Mountaineers this weekend. Junior BJ Myers (1-1) will get the ball in the opener against ODU senior right-hander Sam Sinnen (0-0). In Friday's second game, sophomore Michael Grove (0-1) will take on senior left-hander Adam Bainbridge (3-0). Saturday's finale will feature junior Conner Dotson (3-0) against the Monarch’s freshman lefty John Wilson (2-0).
FOLLOWING ALONG
Old Dominion will have a live stream (subscription required) and live stats for all three games this weekend. Those links can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com.
Additional behind-the-scenes updates, news and notes from Norfolk, Virginia, can be found on social media by following and connecting with the team at @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
SCOUTING OLD DOMINION
Old Dominion is 9-3 on the season, with all but one game coming at home. ODU has won three of its last four.
The Monarchs are coming off a mid-week split against James Madison, with a 9-8 win on Tuesday and a 4-3 loss on Wednesday, which snapped ODU’s three-game winning streak. Last weekend, Old Dominion won its series against Rutgers, with 6-2 and 15-4 victories after dropping the opener, 8-5.
Zach Rutherford leads the team with 18 hits and posts a .346 batting average. Turner Bishop’s .448 average is a team-high, and he has 13 hits. Nick Walker has added 16 hits and a team-best 12 RBIs.
Adam Bainbridge leads the pitching staff with a 3-0 record in three starts and 12 strikeouts, while he has a 1.59 ERA in 17.0 innings pitched. Three pitchers have not allowed an earned run, though they have not pitched more than 6.2 innings.
The Monarchs are coached by Chris Finwood, in his sixth season at ODU and in his 15th year as a head coach. Finwood owns a 153-140 record at Old Dominion after leading the squad to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2014.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE MONARCHS
West Virginia is 6-2 all-time against Old Dominion, including a series win in 2016 in Morgantown. The Mountaineers are 2-1 at home, 4-1 at a neutral site and have never faced the Monarchs in Norfolk.
Last year, West Virginia won its home-opening series vs. Old Dominion, 2-1. WVU came back five times in the series, and at least once in each game.
- WVU’s 4-3 series-opening win came thanks to catcher Ray Guerrini’s two-run squeeze bunt in the eighth inning. The Mountaineers trailed 2-0 early, but with the help of five errors in the final three innings, came back to beat ODU with three unearned runs. West Virginia tied the score at 2-2 in the sixth inning before Guerrini’s winner. Righty Conner Dotson earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just two hits.
- In Saturday’s first game, WVU came back again, trailing 4-1 before scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game. Old Dominion then answered with the winning run in the 10th inning.
- Just 30 minutes later though, WVU bounced back with a 6-5, 12-inning win. Shortstop Jimmy Galusky’s two-RBI, game-winning single in the 12th was the second time the Mountaineers came back in the game, after they scored one in the ninth to send the contest into extra innings. ODU held a 4-3 lead in the ninth inning before designated hitter Kyle Davis drove in Galusky, the game-tying run, in the ninth. Galusky’s game-winner in the bottom of the 12th inning came after ODU took a 5-4 lead in the top of the inning.
Prior to last year, WVU and Old Dominion had met five previous times, all at a neutral site in either North Carolina or South Carolina. The series began in 1982 with a 7-6 win and was followed by a 12-6 loss in 1997. WVU won the next three, 7-5 in 2001, 7-1 in 2002 and 7-4 in 2004, before the series resumed last year.
ON DECK: HOME OPENER VS. MOREHEAD STATE
The Mountaineers come home for the first time this season, hosting Morehead State on Tuesday, March 14, at 3 p.m. ET, at Monongalia County Ballpark. The home opener is the first of three dollar days this season, where tickets and select concession items will be $1. Tickets are on sale now, at 1-800-WVU GAME, WVUGAME.com or at the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum.
LAST TIME OUT: GOING EXTRAS IN LOUISIANA
West Virginia concluded a five-game roadtrip in Louisiana with a 4-2 loss in 12 innings at Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday night.
Playing their first extra-inning game of the season, the Mountaineers held the Lions scoreless for eight consecutive innings before a two-run home run by Taylor Schwaner in the bottom of the 12th inning won it. WVU was held to two runs on seven hits by nine Southeastern pitchers.
The game featured 28 strikeouts, 13 by WVU pitchers and 15 by SLU.
With the help of several solid defensive plays, freshman right-handed starter Isaiah Kearns, senior reliever Jackson Sigman and sophomore reliever Braden Zarbnisky held SLU to two runs on six hits in 11 innings. The trio combined to walk five and strike out 12. Zarbnisky recorded a career-best and game-high six strikeouts.
Sophomore designated hitter Marques Inman hit his second home run of the season in the second inning to give the Mountaineers an early 1-0 lead. After SLU took a 2-1 lead in the third, sophomore catcher Ivan Gonzalez drove in WVU’s second run of the day in the fifth.
QUICK HITS: KEY TEAM NOTES
- West Virginia is celebrating its 125th year of baseball. Founded in 1892, WVU owns an all-time record of 2,102-1,507-19.
- Darius Hill had a career-best and team-leading 13-game hitting streak, which ended on March 8 at Southeastern Louisiana. He had at least one hit in each of WVU’s first 11 games, with four multi-hit games and four multi-RBI contests. Hill is tied for second on the team with 17 hits and third with 11 RBIs.
- WVU’s 6-2 start to the year followed a 5-1 start in 2016, the first time since 2006-07 the Mountaineers have started back-to-back seasons with at least five wins in their first seven games. Just like a six-game winning streak in 2017, WVU’s start to 2016 included a five-game winning streak.
- West Virginia went 2-0 against No. 18 Coastal Carolina on Feb. 25 and 27, its first games against a ranked foe in 2017 and its first-ever games against a defending national champion.
- In West Virginia 22-9 win at No. 18 Coastal Carolina on Feb. 25, WVU’s 22 runs were the most since it scored 23 against Duquesne in 2010. WVU’s 29 hits was three shy of the school record of 32, set in 2009, and the Mountaineers’ six home runs was one shy of the school record of seven, set in 1997. WVU’s 56 at-bats is a new school record. Jackson Cramer had a career-best five hits, four extra-base hits and three doubles, all one shy of tying the school record, and he added a career-high six RBIs.
- Every starter in the lineup has had at least one hit twice in WVU’s first seven games, while every starter has recorded an RBI once.
- Coach Randy Mazey is 131-106 at West Virginia and became the fifth coach in team history to eclipse the 100-win mark and the second to accomplish the feat in his first four seasons.
- West Virginia was voted to finish fifth in the 2017 Big 12 Conference baseball preseason coaches’ poll, WVU’s highest preseason ranking since joining the conference in 2013.
- WVU won 36 games in 2016, the most wins in a single season in coach Randy Mazey’s four years and the most since 2009 (37).
- WVU went 3-1 at the 2016 Big 12 Championship and advanced to its first Big 12 Championship game and first conference title game since 1996.
- Darius Hill and Ivan Gonzalez were named to Freshman All-America teams after leading WVU in several offensive categories as freshmen in 2016
- WVU has had 14 draft selection in coach Randy Mazey’s four seasons, the most draft picks in a four-year stretch in team history.
- Attendance has increased in each of WVU’s first four seasons in the Big 12, highlighted by a program-record total of 40,390 fans in 2016, for an average of 1,346 fans per game. WVU averaged a record 1,507 n the inaugural season at Monongalia County Ballpark in 2015.
Season tickets, single game tickets, flex plan tickets and mini packs for the 2017 WVU baseball season are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-WVU GAME, going to WVUGAME.com or visiting the Mountaineer Ticket Office in the WVU Coliseum. The 2017 schedule is available on WVUsports.com.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit WVUsports.com.
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