Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU’s Snyder Flirts With History
May 01, 2019 12:18 PM | Baseball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – At least it wasn't a drag-bunt hit.
Junior left-handed pitcher Nick Snyder was one pitch away from becoming only the third Mountaineer pitcher in school history to throw a nine inning no-hitter during his 2-0 victory against Marshall Tuesday night. However, Herd leadoff hitter Erik Rodriguez fought off an 0-2 pitch and rolled a soft grounder to the right of second baseman Tyler Doanes that he was able to beat out at first for the only hit of the game.
Marshall's next batter, designated hitter Zach Inskeep, who nearly broke up the no-no in the seventh with a swinging bunt down the first base line that Snyder was able to handle, hit a lazy fly ball to Darius Hill in right field for the final out of the game.
Other than that, Snyder was missing bats like never before.
"I was locating the ball down in the zone consistently, and I had good movement on my slider," he said of his dominating performance Tuesday night.
We thought we saw dominance two weeks ago when junior righthander Alek Manoah gave up just three hits while striking out 15 in an impressive, 1-0 victory over Kansas in 10 innings at Monongalia County Ballpark, but Snyder's performance against Marshall might have one-upped him.
Snyder fanned 16 Herd batters – the most by any WVU pitcher in 30 years and the most against a Division I program since John Radosevich's 16 strikeouts against Pitt in 1965 – in facing two hitters over the minimum. His only other blemish was a two-out walk to Geordan Blanton in the third inning.
Otherwise, he was in complete control.
"What a great performance, but what a shame at the same time," West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. "When he got to the seventh inning he realized what was going on and just took it upon himself to come out with his best stuff.
"That's ridiculous stuff out there. He's throwing 92, 93 – he's 6-7 and the hitters can't see it," Mazey said. "They feel like he's letting it go right on top of home plate."
The Marlton, New Jersey, resident, has become West Virginia's midweek stopper by matching Manoah for the staff lead with six victories. His recent performances against Marshall, Pitt and Maryland were predetermined outings that saw him get removed after the fifth inning to save him for weekend relief work.
And that appeared to be the plan on Tuesday night when Mazey got his bullpen up and active in the fifth, but Snyder kept getting outs.
He went 1-2-3 in the fifth, sixth and seventh and by then Mazey had no other choice but to keep his lefthander on the mound to see if history could be made.
In a way he did make history by becoming just the 10th WVU pitcher ever to record a nine-inning one-hitter. The last to do so was lefthander Zac Cline against Virginia Tech in a Big East Tournament elimination game in 2003 in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
Additionally, the only West Virginia pitchers to record nine-inning no-hitters were Billy Biggs against Buffalo in 2002 and Jason Hively against George Washington in 1994. The other six were either five- or seven-inning affairs, which illustrates just how rare Snyder's performance was on Tuesday night. Snyder said he's thrown some seven-inning no-hitters while growing up but never a nine-inning one.
"Obviously, there were butterflies going out there for the ninth but I kept telling myself to stay present, stay in the moment and just keep getting better," he explained.
Now, Mazey has got an interesting dilemma with three weeks left in the regular season.
Does he keep Snyder as his Tuesday starter against Virginia Tech and Pitt to try and collect a couple more midweek wins and enhance his NCAA Tournament resume, or does he consider moving him into the weekend rotation, possibly against Kansas State in two weeks or the George Washington series on the final weekend of the regular season before getting his pitching lined up for the Big 12 tournament?
Snyder has clearly pitched well enough to be a weekend guy, but with just two weekends left in Big 12 play and his 127-pitch effort Tuesday night against Marshall effectively taking care of this weekend's series against TCU, does it make sense for Mazey to mess with his weekend rotation?
Snyder said he has had no other choice but to embrace the midweek role he has right now.
"It was the card that I was dealt, and I'm going to make the best of it and go out there and perform every Tuesday or Wednesday," he said. "Coach Mazey gave me the opportunity to be a starter this year and I'm just taking advantage of it."
It's a good problem to have, for sure.
What West Virginia has right now is at least four high-end starters and the last time the Mountaineers had that many was in 1996 when they nearly got out of the Clemson regional during the pre-Super Regional days.
That year, West Virginia's weekend starting rotation featured Mike Riley, Chris Enochs and Hively, with No. 4 starter Greg Stouffer and No. 5 guy Jeremy Cummings just a notch below them. That group beat Tennessee and Georgia Southern in the opening two games of the regionals before running into Clemson's even deeper staff that featured first-rounders Kris Benson and Billy Koch and fourth-rounder Ken Vining.
All three of those guys pitched in the majors.
The starting pitching Mazey has assembled this year at West Virginia is not quite THAT good, but it's not too far off from what I've seen from them collectively this year.
It goes to show you what dominant pitching can do for a baseball program, and we certainly witnessed that Tuesday night with Snyder's performance.
Tuesday Sound
Junior left-handed pitcher Nick Snyder was one pitch away from becoming only the third Mountaineer pitcher in school history to throw a nine inning no-hitter during his 2-0 victory against Marshall Tuesday night. However, Herd leadoff hitter Erik Rodriguez fought off an 0-2 pitch and rolled a soft grounder to the right of second baseman Tyler Doanes that he was able to beat out at first for the only hit of the game.
Marshall's next batter, designated hitter Zach Inskeep, who nearly broke up the no-no in the seventh with a swinging bunt down the first base line that Snyder was able to handle, hit a lazy fly ball to Darius Hill in right field for the final out of the game.
Other than that, Snyder was missing bats like never before.
"I was locating the ball down in the zone consistently, and I had good movement on my slider," he said of his dominating performance Tuesday night.
We thought we saw dominance two weeks ago when junior righthander Alek Manoah gave up just three hits while striking out 15 in an impressive, 1-0 victory over Kansas in 10 innings at Monongalia County Ballpark, but Snyder's performance against Marshall might have one-upped him.
Snyder fanned 16 Herd batters – the most by any WVU pitcher in 30 years and the most against a Division I program since John Radosevich's 16 strikeouts against Pitt in 1965 – in facing two hitters over the minimum. His only other blemish was a two-out walk to Geordan Blanton in the third inning.
Otherwise, he was in complete control.
"What a great performance, but what a shame at the same time," West Virginia coach Randy Mazey said. "When he got to the seventh inning he realized what was going on and just took it upon himself to come out with his best stuff.
"That's ridiculous stuff out there. He's throwing 92, 93 – he's 6-7 and the hitters can't see it," Mazey said. "They feel like he's letting it go right on top of home plate."
The Marlton, New Jersey, resident, has become West Virginia's midweek stopper by matching Manoah for the staff lead with six victories. His recent performances against Marshall, Pitt and Maryland were predetermined outings that saw him get removed after the fifth inning to save him for weekend relief work.
And that appeared to be the plan on Tuesday night when Mazey got his bullpen up and active in the fifth, but Snyder kept getting outs.
He went 1-2-3 in the fifth, sixth and seventh and by then Mazey had no other choice but to keep his lefthander on the mound to see if history could be made.In a way he did make history by becoming just the 10th WVU pitcher ever to record a nine-inning one-hitter. The last to do so was lefthander Zac Cline against Virginia Tech in a Big East Tournament elimination game in 2003 in Bridgewater, New Jersey.
Additionally, the only West Virginia pitchers to record nine-inning no-hitters were Billy Biggs against Buffalo in 2002 and Jason Hively against George Washington in 1994. The other six were either five- or seven-inning affairs, which illustrates just how rare Snyder's performance was on Tuesday night. Snyder said he's thrown some seven-inning no-hitters while growing up but never a nine-inning one.
"Obviously, there were butterflies going out there for the ninth but I kept telling myself to stay present, stay in the moment and just keep getting better," he explained.
Now, Mazey has got an interesting dilemma with three weeks left in the regular season.
Does he keep Snyder as his Tuesday starter against Virginia Tech and Pitt to try and collect a couple more midweek wins and enhance his NCAA Tournament resume, or does he consider moving him into the weekend rotation, possibly against Kansas State in two weeks or the George Washington series on the final weekend of the regular season before getting his pitching lined up for the Big 12 tournament?
Snyder has clearly pitched well enough to be a weekend guy, but with just two weekends left in Big 12 play and his 127-pitch effort Tuesday night against Marshall effectively taking care of this weekend's series against TCU, does it make sense for Mazey to mess with his weekend rotation?
Snyder said he has had no other choice but to embrace the midweek role he has right now.
"It was the card that I was dealt, and I'm going to make the best of it and go out there and perform every Tuesday or Wednesday," he said. "Coach Mazey gave me the opportunity to be a starter this year and I'm just taking advantage of it."
It's a good problem to have, for sure.
What West Virginia has right now is at least four high-end starters and the last time the Mountaineers had that many was in 1996 when they nearly got out of the Clemson regional during the pre-Super Regional days.
That year, West Virginia's weekend starting rotation featured Mike Riley, Chris Enochs and Hively, with No. 4 starter Greg Stouffer and No. 5 guy Jeremy Cummings just a notch below them. That group beat Tennessee and Georgia Southern in the opening two games of the regionals before running into Clemson's even deeper staff that featured first-rounders Kris Benson and Billy Koch and fourth-rounder Ken Vining.
All three of those guys pitched in the majors.
The starting pitching Mazey has assembled this year at West Virginia is not quite THAT good, but it's not too far off from what I've seen from them collectively this year.
It goes to show you what dominant pitching can do for a baseball program, and we certainly witnessed that Tuesday night with Snyder's performance.
Tuesday Sound
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