Friday, February 16
Jacksonville, Fla.
6:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
at
Jacksonville
No. 22 WVU Heads to Jacksonville for Opening Day
February 15, 2018 03:58 PM | Baseball
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The No. 22 West Virginia University baseball team opens the 2018 season with a weekend series at Jacksonville from Feb. 16-18, in Jacksonville, Florida.
Opening Day is slated for Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The series at John Sessions Stadium continues Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m., with the finale on Sunday at noon.
The Mountaineers are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, the 12th in program history and first since 1996. WVU went 36-26 in 2017 and finished 2-2 at the NCAA Regional to advance to the regional final for the third time in team history.
"When you lose your last game, the summer and fall are going to be pretty long," sixth-year WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "So, we feel like we're coming off a great year. We've set the bar pretty high in this program. Things have changed a little bit, as far as I'm concerned, in Mountaineer baseball."
Senior right-hander BJ Myers (5-5, 4.52 ERA in 2017) will make his second career Opening Day start on Friday, facing JU's junior righty Chris Gau (2-4, 3.96). A pair of sophomore right-handers will throw on Saturday, Alek Manoah (1-1, 3.07) for WVU against Tyler Santana (4-2, 2.61) for Jacksonville. Sunday's Mountaineer starter is to be determined, while the Dolphins will go with junior righty Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.61).
Twenty-four players return from last year's squad, including nine of a program-record 12 that earned All-Big 12 Team honors in 2017: senior BJ Myers, juniors Jimmy Galusky, Kyle Gray, Michael Grove, Darius Hill and Braden Zarbnisky and sophomores Sam Kessler, Alek Manoah and Brandon White. Twelve newcomers also join the squad in 2017-18.
The Dolphins posted a 37-24 mark a season ago and finished 16-5 in the ASUN to win their first conference title in more than a decade.
This weekend's series in Jacksonville comes a year after WVU and JU met in Morgantown. West Virginia won the series, 2-1, in the first-ever games between the two teams.
FOLLOWING ALONG
All three games at Jacksonville will feature live stats, while JU also will have a streamed radio broadcast.
Links to the radio broadcasts and live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com. Additional behind-the-scenes updates, news and notes from Jacksonville can be found on social media by following and connecting with the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @WVUBaseball.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville went 37-24 in 2017 and 20-9 at home. JU finished 16-5 in ASUN play to win the regular-season title, its first league crown since 2006. Along with a regular-season championship and an ASUN title-game appearance, five Dolphins were named to all-conference teams.
Entering his second season in Jacksonville, Chris Hayes owns a 36-24 record. Hayes is a 1995 JU graduate and served as an assistant coach with the Dolphins from 2003-08 and again from 2013-16.
HISTORY VS. THE DOLPHINS
West Virginia is 2-1 all-time vs. Jacksonville after a series victory at home last year.
The Mountaineers opened with a 5-3, walk-off win on March 24. In its home-opener, WVU rallied with four runs in the ninth inning, all with two outs, capped by Jackson Cramer's two-run walk-off home run. West Virginia won the series the following day, 8-1, in the opening game of a doubleheader. Michael Grove was dominant on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings. In the series finale, played as game two of the doubleheader, Jacksonville avoided the sweep with an 8-2 victory.
ON DECK: BRITTAIN RESORTS INVITATIONAL
The second week of the season sends the Mountaineers to Conway, South Carolina, for the Brittain Resorts Invitational, hosted by Coastal Carolina, from Feb. 23-25. After going 4-0 at the event last year, WVU will play VCU twice and Illinois and Coastal Carolina once. The weekend begins vs. VCU on Feb. 23, at 11 a.m. ET, before a doubleheader on Feb. 24, vs. Illinois at 11 a.m. and against VCU at 6 p.m. WVU and CCU square off on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 2:30 p.m.
QUICK HITS: KEY TEAM NOTES
Season tickets and mini-packages for the 2018 season are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets at WVUGAME.com, call 1-800-WVU GAME or visit the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum. The 2018 schedule, with game times, can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com. A printable PDF and schedule breakdown also are available on WVUsports.com.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow WVU Baseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and visit WVUsports.com.
Opening Day is slated for Friday at 6 p.m. ET. The series at John Sessions Stadium continues Saturday, Feb. 17, at 2 p.m., with the finale on Sunday at noon.
The Mountaineers are coming off an NCAA Tournament appearance, the 12th in program history and first since 1996. WVU went 36-26 in 2017 and finished 2-2 at the NCAA Regional to advance to the regional final for the third time in team history.
"When you lose your last game, the summer and fall are going to be pretty long," sixth-year WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "So, we feel like we're coming off a great year. We've set the bar pretty high in this program. Things have changed a little bit, as far as I'm concerned, in Mountaineer baseball."
Senior right-hander BJ Myers (5-5, 4.52 ERA in 2017) will make his second career Opening Day start on Friday, facing JU's junior righty Chris Gau (2-4, 3.96). A pair of sophomore right-handers will throw on Saturday, Alek Manoah (1-1, 3.07) for WVU against Tyler Santana (4-2, 2.61) for Jacksonville. Sunday's Mountaineer starter is to be determined, while the Dolphins will go with junior righty Mike Cassala (0-4, 5.61).
Twenty-four players return from last year's squad, including nine of a program-record 12 that earned All-Big 12 Team honors in 2017: senior BJ Myers, juniors Jimmy Galusky, Kyle Gray, Michael Grove, Darius Hill and Braden Zarbnisky and sophomores Sam Kessler, Alek Manoah and Brandon White. Twelve newcomers also join the squad in 2017-18.
The Dolphins posted a 37-24 mark a season ago and finished 16-5 in the ASUN to win their first conference title in more than a decade.
This weekend's series in Jacksonville comes a year after WVU and JU met in Morgantown. West Virginia won the series, 2-1, in the first-ever games between the two teams.
FOLLOWING ALONG
All three games at Jacksonville will feature live stats, while JU also will have a streamed radio broadcast.
Links to the radio broadcasts and live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com. Additional behind-the-scenes updates, news and notes from Jacksonville can be found on social media by following and connecting with the team on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @WVUBaseball.
SCOUTING JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville went 37-24 in 2017 and 20-9 at home. JU finished 16-5 in ASUN play to win the regular-season title, its first league crown since 2006. Along with a regular-season championship and an ASUN title-game appearance, five Dolphins were named to all-conference teams.
Entering his second season in Jacksonville, Chris Hayes owns a 36-24 record. Hayes is a 1995 JU graduate and served as an assistant coach with the Dolphins from 2003-08 and again from 2013-16.
HISTORY VS. THE DOLPHINS
West Virginia is 2-1 all-time vs. Jacksonville after a series victory at home last year.
The Mountaineers opened with a 5-3, walk-off win on March 24. In its home-opener, WVU rallied with four runs in the ninth inning, all with two outs, capped by Jackson Cramer's two-run walk-off home run. West Virginia won the series the following day, 8-1, in the opening game of a doubleheader. Michael Grove was dominant on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with eight strikeouts in 7.2 innings. In the series finale, played as game two of the doubleheader, Jacksonville avoided the sweep with an 8-2 victory.
ON DECK: BRITTAIN RESORTS INVITATIONAL
The second week of the season sends the Mountaineers to Conway, South Carolina, for the Brittain Resorts Invitational, hosted by Coastal Carolina, from Feb. 23-25. After going 4-0 at the event last year, WVU will play VCU twice and Illinois and Coastal Carolina once. The weekend begins vs. VCU on Feb. 23, at 11 a.m. ET, before a doubleheader on Feb. 24, vs. Illinois at 11 a.m. and against VCU at 6 p.m. WVU and CCU square off on Sunday, Feb. 25, at 2:30 p.m.
QUICK HITS: KEY TEAM NOTES
- The 2018 season marks the 126th year of baseball at West Virginia. Founded in 1892, WVU owns an all-time record of 2,131-1,528-19. The Mountaineers are the second-oldest program in the Big 12.
- Twelve newcomers join the squad in 2017-18, including two SEC transfers and three junior college transfers.
- West Virginia is ranked No. 22 in the D1 Baseball Preseason Top 25. WVU is ranked in the preseason for the first time since the 1960s, and the Mountaineers also are No. 27 in the NCBWA Preseason Poll and receiving votes in three other preseason polls.
- WVU was picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Coaches' Poll for the second consecutive year. West Virginia has finished fourth in the final standings in back-to-back seasons.
- WVU's 2018 schedule features 23 home games and 21 games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2017. The 54-game regular-season also includes 30 contests on the road and one at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
- Coach Randy Mazey begins his sixth season at the helm and owns a 160-127 record in Morgantown. He is the fifth coach in team history to eclipse the 100-win mark and the second to accomplish the feat in his first four seasons. Mazey is 347-287-2 in his career.
- Zarbnisky earned Preseason All-America First Team honors by the NCBWA and was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Watch List.
- Last year, Zarbnisky was named a NCBWA Third Team All-American, the NCBWA District II Player of the Year, a John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award finalist and an All-Big 12 First Team honoree as a sophomore.
Season tickets and mini-packages for the 2018 season are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets at WVUGAME.com, call 1-800-WVU GAME or visit the Mountaineer Ticket Office at the WVU Coliseum. The 2018 schedule, with game times, can be found on the baseball schedule page on WVUsports.com. A printable PDF and schedule breakdown also are 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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