April 26, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – One thing is for certain with this year’s West Virginia University baseball team: you have to play all 27 outs to beat the Mountaineers at Hawley Field. For the third time this year West Virginia got a game-winning hit in its final at-bat.
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| Austin Markel hits this 1-2 pitch to dead center for the game-winning inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the ninth. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo | |
This time it was Austin Markel’s inside-the-park home run that drove in Jedd Gyorko to give West Virginia at 12-11 come-from-behind victory over Connecticut Saturday afternoon. Markel’s two-strike, two-out hit came off of Husky closer David Erickson, who got Tyler Kuhn looking on a backdoor slider to begin the ninth and also got Mountaineer cleanup hitter Vince Belnome to fly out to left.
In between, Gyorko reached first on a bloop single to right that Connecticut’s Gordon Stevens had trouble playing in the lights. After Belnome’s fly out, Markel crushed an Erickson fastball to straight away center. Connecticut centerfielder Harold Brantley, Jr. got to the ball at the 390 sign and actually had his glove on it. But when he crashed into the metal fence the ball jarred loose.
As Brantley lay injured on the warning track, West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant waved Markel around for the game-winning run.
“The longer that ball was up in the air … I thought this ball was going to get out of here,” said Van Zant. “When the ball got to the fence I thought he caught it. Then I saw the ball came out and was rolling on the warning track. Markel is coming around second toward third and there is nobody out there to get the ball. I just couldn’t believe it.”
Eventually Brantley was able to walk off the field under his own power.
“He was out there for a long time and you hate to see a kid get hurt on a play like that,” said Van Zant. “He’s a really good centerfielder and he made a great effort to try and catch that ball.”
It was a fitting end to a game that lasted nearly five hours due to a pair of rain delays. The game got started 1 ½ late due to a mid-afternoon thunderstorm and the game was suspended for another 44 minutes in the bottom of the second after a second downpour.
“That was a pretty tough day for both teams but especially our team because we came in at noon for a 3 o’clock game and had to take off four tarps plus play a five-hour game,” said Van Zant. “I hope we have enough gas left in the tank for tomorrow.”
When action resumed, West Virginia overcame an early 4-3 Husky lead with a two-run second and a four-run fourth. Kuhn smashed a two-run homer to left in the second and Gyorko added three more in the fourth with a three-run shot to left. It was Kuhn’s team-leading ninth home run of the season while Gyorko got his sixth round-tripper of the season.
Connecticut got back into the game in the eighth off of WVU closer Chris Enourato, who was hit hard by the Huskies. Enourato allowed five hits in 1 2/3 innings including Peter Fatse’s grand slam. However, the sophomore was able to come back out and put up a zero in the ninth to give the Mountaineers an opportunity to win the game.
“Chris got Fatse to 2-2 and the kid hit a slider out of the park,” said Van Zant. “You’ve got to give him credit.”
WVU starter Stephen Morrison pitched 6 2/3 innings, giving up six earned runs on nine hits. Jarryd Summers and Eric Saffell pitched 1/3 of an inning each. Enourato is credited with the win to improve to 5-0.
“Like I told our kids after the game, the best pitchers in baseball are going to give up runs and give up base hits,” Van Zant said. “But there is not another guy in America that I would rather have out there in that situation than Chris. He competes. I’ll tell you what he did, after the kid hit the home run he didn’t shut it down. He went right back out there and competed and held them right where they were at.”
Erickson takes the loss and falls to 1-2. Connecticut starter Dan Mahoney lasted just four innings, giving up nine earned runs on seven hits.
Kuhn and Gyorko both had three hits each for West Virginia, now 31-11, 10-7. Joe Agreste was 2 for 4 with two RBI.
Pierre LePage went 3 for 6 for Connecticut, which falls to 21-24, 7-13. Connecticut out-hit West Virginia 15-11.
“You have to give Connecticut a lot of credit because they played hard and they just kept pecking away,” said Van Zant.
The victory was critical for West Virginia. The Mountaineers solidified their fifth-place position in the league standings and also picks up the tiebreaker against the Huskies should both finish the season with identical records.
“The thing about our team the whole year is that we never quit,” said Van Zant. “When you do that you have a chance.”
The Mountaineers go for the sweep on Sunday when the two teams meet at 1 pm. WAJR-AM 1440 and WWVU-FM 92 will carry the game live in Morgantown.April 25, 2008
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY | UCONN NOTEBOOK
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia began the game with seven consecutive hits and scored seven runs in the top of the first inning to cruise past Connecticut, 10-1 in the series opener Friday night at Hawley Field.
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| Josh Whitlock ran his record to 7-3 with seven strong innings Friday night against Connecticut. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo | |
After Justin Parks began the game with an infield single and advanced to third on errant pick off attempt by Connecticut pitcher John Folino, Tyler Kuhn drove in Parks with a single up the middle. Jedd Gyorko laced another single up the middle to move Kuhn to second and then Vince Belnome brought them both home with a two-run double to the left center field gap to make it 3-0.
Joe Agreste’s RBI single to left scored Belnome and Dan DiBartolomeo’s fielder’s choice plated Austin Markel to make it 5-0 in favor of the Gold and Blue. Kuhn finished the scoring in the first with a two-run double right field, platuing DiBartolomeo and Jordan Yost.
“The first inning is the biggest inning. The most runs are scored in the first inning at all levels of baseball because a lot of times the pitcher hasn’t gotten into a groove yet,” West Virginia Coach Greg Van Zant said. “You’ve got to give our hitters credit. We had the opportunities and we jumped all over them.”
West Virginia starter Josh Whitlock took advantage of the early support, throwing a gem for seven innings. The Given, W.Va. native, gave up just one earned run off a season-low two hits, while walking five and striking out four to improve his record to a staff-best 7-3.
“He really stepped up for us tonight. That is the outing we needed out of Josh,” Van Zant said. “He brought his ‘A’ game and pitched like he is capable of. He gives us a chance to win any time he takes the mound.”
The Mountaineers (30-11, 9-7) added three more runs in the eighth off Husky reliever Erik Turgeon. Tobias Streich got things started with a double over the center fielder’s head. After a Parks walk, Kuhn drilled a two-run double to center. Gyorko followed with an RBI double to right to make it 10-1.
Kuhn led West Virginia at the plate, going 3 for 5 with a team-best five RBIs. Gyorko also went 3 for 5 with an RBI while Belnome added two RBIs on a night when the Mountaineers pounded out 15 hits.
Connecticut starter John Folino (3-4) takes the loss for the Huskies after giving up seven runs off 12 hits while walking one and striking out four in seven innings of work. To his credit, he scattered five hits and allowed no runs over his final six innings of work.
“He never got rattled and he was pretty daggone good after the first inning so it’s a good things we got our runs when we did,” Van Zant said.
Connecticut drops to 21-22, 7-12.
The series resumes tomorrow at Hawley Field with the first pitch of game two slated for 3 p.m.
“It will be a dogfight tomorrow and Sunday. We will come back tomorrow and start out 0-0,” Van Zant said. “That’s the beauty of baseball. Today the win is in the books but tomorrow it starts all over and we have to come back out and try to do it again.”April 25, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia needed just one inning to put away Connecticut Friday night at Hawley Field. Senior shortstop Tyler Kuhn, the man who wielded the biggest bat for the Mountaineers, came into the game having a pretty good idea that Connecticut starter John Folino was going to pound the strike zone.
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| Tyler Kuhn turns one of West Virginia's three double plays Friday night against Connecticut. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo | |
Connecticut’s junior righthander had allowed just six walks in 37 1/3 innings pitched entering tonight's contest.
“He’s done a great job all year,” Kuhn said. “We noticed from the stats that he hadn’t walked anybody the whole season – he only had like six or seven walks and he hadn’t hit anybody – so we knew he was going to try and work us away and our hitters just stayed back.”
Kuhn managed to get two of West Virginia’s nine hits in the first inning, driving in three of West Virginia’s first seven runs.
“Every time I came up to the plate someone was on base so the infield was pinched up,” Kuhn explained. “The pitcher obviously didn’t want to put anybody else on base so I was able to get good pitches to hit and I was able to find some holes.”
Kuhn finished the game 3 for 5 with five RBI. The senior is now hitting .420 with 47 RBI in 41 games. West Virginia pounded out 15 hits against two Husky pitchers to boost its national-leading team batting average to .360.
Kuhn says getting a 10-1 victory over a Connecticut team that has won seven out of the last nine against West Virginia was big. Last year the Huskies edged West Virginia for the final Big East Tournament spot on a tiebreaker.
“This is a huge series. Any series you are playing is huge,” Kuhn said. “Playing UConn here at home in front of another big crowd here tonight was a big win for us.”
Once West Virginia starter Josh Whitlock got the early lead he was able to keep Connecticut hitters off stride. The junior gave up just two hits and one earned run through seven innings to elevate his record to 7-3.
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“Josh threw a heck of a game,” Kuhn said. “I noticed out in the field that every time he got 3-2 on a hitter he threw a really good pitch and was able to get the hitter out. Getting deep in the counts you can slip up and leave the ball up and what not, but Josh did a great job on 3-2 and got a lot of outs.”
Whitlock also had some strong defense behind him. West Virginia was able to turn three double plays and held Connecticut’s running game to just one stolen base.
“We’ve been working together as a unit all season. For us to stop every ball … we’re not trying to do too much - we’re just trying to get outs,” Kuhn said. “I have to give all the credit to our pitchers today because I thought Josh got their hitters to ground or line into a couple of double plays that were terrific.”
West Virginia’s win coupled with Louisville’s 11-2 loss to Cincinnati earlier tonight moves the Mountaineers into sole possession of fifth place in the league standings with a 9-7 conference record.
“Every win is big - it doesn’t matter who you play. Whoever wins the series gets the tiebreaker. All we can do is to try and move ourselves up in the standings,” Kuhn said. “I think right now nobody is mathematically out of it and I think a lot of teams can still win the league. We’ve just got to continue to roll off Ws and getting a big win on Friday night was what we were shooting for.”
West Virginia sends lefty Steve Morrison (5-2) on the hill Saturday afternoon. Morrison is coming off his best pitching performance of the season in registering an 11-6 victory over Notre Dame last Saturday afternoon.
“Steve has done a great job all year for us,” Kuhn said. “I know he’s going to keep their hitters off balance – he’s going to pitch in and pitch out. Every time Steve goes out there he gives us a really consistent performance; all we’ve got to do is go out and swing the bats like we did tonight and hopefully we’ll get another win tomorrow.”
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April 24, 2008
UCONN PREVIEW (mp3 download)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Although the Big East tournament is still a month away, what West Virginia does between now and then will determine whether or not the Mountaineers get there.
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| Reliever Chris Enourato has had a hand in 10 of West Virginia's 29 wins so far this year with a 4-0 record and six saves. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo | |
West Virginia (29-11) is presently 8-7 in Big East play after beginning the conference portion of its schedule with a 6-3 record. The Mountaineers have a difficult three-game home series with Connecticut this weekend, then they travel to second-place St. John’s for a three-game series May 2-4, play three at home against fifth-place Louisville May 10-11, and wrap up conference play on the road for three at third-place Cincinnati May 15-17.
“You never know how many wins it’s going to take and we still have a lot of work to do,” said West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant. “We’ve got a team coming in that if we can win the series that would give us the advantage over them for a playoff spot.”
Despite playing five home and four road series West Virginia doesn’t have the benefit of facing either Villanova or Georgetown this season. The Wildcats are presently 10th in the league standings with a 5-10 record while Georgetown is at the bottom of the Big East with a 4-14 mark.
“You never know who is going to be an advantage or a disadvantage to skip and the way the schedule worked out this year we skipped Georgetown and Villanova,” Van Zant said. “Who is to say we would beat them? You just don’t know.”
Right now every team is still mathematically alive for postseason play with a month left in the regular season and just three games separate teams five through 10 in the conference standings. The Mountaineers are tied with Louisville for fifth place with 12 games to go. Last year, 10-win Connecticut beat out West Virginia for the final spot in the tournament due to a tiebreaker and South Florida got into the eight-team tournament in 2006 with 12 wins.
“We haven’t looked at the standings all season long and there is no use doing it right now. We’re just going to try and win as many games as we can,” Van Zant said.
At the same time, West Virginia controls its own destiny.
“We don’t have to worry about getting help from people,” Van Zant said. “If we just play well and win some games we should make the tournament.”
Van Zant reiterates that his team’s primary goal each year is to win the conference. However, with Notre Dame now four games ahead in the standings and owning the tiebreaker over the Mountaineers that is unlikely.
“We’re just not trying to win enough games to make the tournament,” Van Zant said. “Then if it looks like you’re not going to win the regular season then you just try to win as many games so you can finish as high in the standings as you can.”
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The last time West Virginia made the NCAA tournament in 1996 the Mountaineers were three games below .500 with a month left in the regular season. Then West Virginia won 11 of its last 13 games to win the Big East tournament.
“Our ’96 team’s overall record was only 33-25 but down the stretch when it counted we played really well,” Van Zant said. “Everybody looks back at that as one of the best teams we ever had here and in reality it was one of the best teams we ever had here for the last 15 games.
“We got hot at the end of the season and our team is capable of that.” Van Zant said. “We’ve got some pitchers that have thrown well at times and we hit the ball.”
Van Zant says it all starts with this weekend’s three-game series with the Huskies.
“Our players know the value of these games,” he said. “Our last 14 games and hopefully some postseason games are by far the most important games of our season. As a baseball team you want to play well down the stretch.”
Friday night’s game against Connecticut is Dollar Night, will all tickets and select concessions available for $1 each. WAJR AM-1440 and U-92 will carry the game live on the radio. First pitch is 7:05 pm.
Briefly:
West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant takes exception to those RPI rankings. “This conference is so good and it’s really too bad the way the RPI system is set up,” Van Zant said. “It doesn’t favor our conference and it doesn’t reflect the strength of our league. I’ve seen different people throwing around projections of just one team from the Big East (getting into the tournament) and our league is so much stronger than the vast majority of other leagues getting one team. Because of where we are geographically located it’s tough to have a good RPI.” Just four Big East teams, St. John’s (No. 59), Notre Dame (No. 83), South Florida (No. 85) and West Virginia (No. 96), are ranked in the top 100 this week. “The game has a way of evening things out. In all honesty we probably played well enough to win one at Seton Hall and played well enough to win one against Notre Dame,” Van Zant said. “Notre Dame outplayed us in two of the three games but we weren’t that far away from two out of three both weekends.” |
April 23, 2008
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| Dingle | Reynaud |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s recent NFL draft history hasn’t been all that impressive but that could change on Saturday. Perhaps as many as five Mountaineer players could be taken in this year’s NFL draft which commences Saturday afternoon in New York City.
That would equal the total number of West Virginia players drafted since 2004, and comes within two of matching the total number of WVU players taken since 2001.
Three underclassmen – the largest number of underclassmen to leave school early in school history – make up a large portion of this year’s West Virginia draft class.
Running back Steve Slaton, wide receiver Darius Reynaud and defensive end Johnny Dingle each chose to forgo their final season of eligibility at West Virginia for the lure of the NFL. All three are expected to be drafted although it may not be until Sunday.
Slaton is rated anywhere from the ninth to the 11th-best running back available and should go between the third and fifth rounds. Rivals.com rates Slaton the 67th-best player in the draft while NFL Draft Countdown has Slaton ranked 99th, showing the wide disparity in people’s opinion of the West Virginia back.
“The NFL has always been a dream for me, and when the opportunity comes you have to take it,” Slaton was quoted in Wednesday’s Philadelphia Inquirer.
Slaton ran for more than 1,000 yards for three straight seasons but West Virginia’s all-time touchdown leader’s 1,051 yards rushing in 2007 was nearly 700 yards off his sophomore total when he was a consensus All-American and finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year.
Junior Darius Reynaud was West Virginia’s most productive receiver since Chris Henry in 2004. Reynaud caught a team-best 64 passes for 733 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2007 and his three-year totals include 133 catches for 1,550 yards and 19 touchdowns in the Mountaineers’ run-first pass-second offense.
Johnny Dingle had his best season in 2007 leading the team with nine sacks to go with 19 tackles for losses and 48 total stops. His 28 negative yardage plays were easily the most on the team in 2007.
Dingle and Reynaud, rated 12th and 18th at their positions by NFL Draft Scout.com, should be second-day picks.
Historically, West Virginia’s underclass players that have declared early for the draft have had varying degrees of success in the NFL. Running back Amos Zereoue left school a year early and was the 95th player taken in the 1999 draft. He played seven NFL seasons, mostly with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Juniors Pacman Jones and Chris Henry were the sixth and 83rd players taken in the 2005 draft but both have experienced off-the-field troubles. Henry was recently released by the Cincinnati Bengals and Jones is awaiting reinstatement by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
Major Harris chose to leave school early in 1990 and wound up being taken in the 12th round by the Los Angeles Raiders. Fullback Rodney Woodard chose to leave early after the 1992 season and was not drafted.
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| Dykes | Slaton | Schmitt |
Meanwhile, West Virginia’s highest rated position player for this year’s draft is Owen Schmitt, considered by many to be the No. 1 fullback available. Schmitt showed his all-around ability in 2007 running for 272 yards and catching 12 passes for 121 yards. For his career Schmitt accounted for 1,231 all-purpose yards and 15 touchdowns.
Schmitt had a setback when he injured his knee during workouts prior to the Senior Bowl but he says his knee is now healthy.
“It was a bummer when it happened. I really wanted to play,” Schmitt told the Charleston Gazette.
Defensive tackle Keilen Dykes could be an appealing late-round pick. Dykes had 32 tackles, three sacks, four tackles for losses and an interception last year as a senior. He is rated 15th among defensive tackles by NFL Draft Scout.com.
Free safety Ryan Mundy, rated 14th by NFL Draft Scout.com, Marc Magro, ranked the 15th best inside linebacker, and strong safety Eric Wicks, ranked 18th, are also draft candidates.
West Virginia’s biggest draft class since the NFL paired the draft down to seven rounds came in 1999 when six players were taken. Defensive tackle John Thornton and linebacker Gary Stills are still in the league.
The 2008 NFL draft will commence at 3 pm on Saturday with the first pick already being determined. Last night the Miami Dolphins and former Michigan tackle Jake Long agreed to a five-year deal that includes $30 million in guaranteed money.April 22, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jeff Mullen’s offensive staff accomplished what they set out to do this spring. West Virginia’s first-year offensive coordinator was able to get his base system in, develop some depth along the offensive line and not add to the injury list.
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| Key players Patrick White and Noel Devine were held out of a lot of the action during spring drills. WVU Photography Services/Brian Persinger photo | |
“In terms of a new offensive group picking up the terms and the schemes I’m very happy with what we’ve done this spring,” Mullen said after the spring game.
What Mullen is doing is not dramatically different than what was done here in the past. In fact most of the changes will be difficult to detect with the naked eye. There will be some more motioning and movement and perhaps some additional formations, but the basic approach to attacking defenses will remain the same with quarterback Patrick White returning for senior season.
Coach Bill Stewart has stated many times this spring that it is important for the Mountaineers to have the ability to attack all parts of the field including the deep middle to keep defenses from loading up to stop the run. It is also important to utilize other players in the offense beyond just the quarterbacks, running backs and wide receivers. Mullen plans on doing that.
Yet at the same time, a five-yard pass to the tight end in the flat is not the same as White tucking the football under his arm and running 60 yards for a touchdown. White has done that many times during the past three years.
And some of the perceived difficulties the offense had this spring were due in part to the fact that the quarterbacks had on no-contact jerseys. Many of those touch-taps on White for three yard gains during the two scrimmages were probably 25 and 30-yard runs. Jarrett Brown has the ability to do that as well.
Now during the developmental season Mullen and his staff will contemplate some of the areas that they need to improve before the start of fall camp, specifically red zone and short yardage situations.
“We didn’t use the three or four different personnel groupings where you put two or three big guys on the field for those situations because we’re just trying to understand how to line up and call plays because we’re a new offensive staff,” Mullen said. “That was the most important thing for us this spring.
“That will be a day-one deal in the fall,” Mullen added.
With the graduation of Owen Schmitt, the coaching staff had to look to within this spring to come up with a replacement at fullback. The two regular fullbacks in the program, Maxwell Anderson and Sam Morrone, were both shelved with knee injuries forcing Mullen to take Thor Merrow from the defensive line and Will Johnson from the wide receiver corps for help. Both performed well.
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“We moved Will and we moved Thor Merrow who used to be a defensive lineman. Maybe we can dot the I with Will a little bit and put Thor at fullback and have a bigger backfield set,” Mullen said. “There are a number of things personnel wise we can do. We can get two big guys in the backfield. We’ve got to look at our own football players and we’ve got to recruit.”
Mullen was pleased with the growth displayed on the offensive line. The No. 1 group for the spring game included Gino Gradkowski at center, Jake Figner and John Bradshaw at guards, and Ryan Stanchek and Selvish Capers at tackle. Two key parts of that equation - center Mike Dent and left guard Greg Isdaner - were out recovering from off-season surgeries.
“It was a blessing that we didn’t have to go through with them because I think next fall we’ll be a little bit better from a personnel standpoint,” Mullen explained.
Having Dent, Isdaner - and a times Stanchek - out wasn’t that big of a deal according to Mullen.
“I don’t think it hurts a guy like Ryan, Isdaner and our Dent kid the center. Those are three all-league players and they’re veterans. They’re sharp kids, they’ve been through it and we know that they can do it,” Mullen said. “What it did was it really helped our guys up front because we got some young kids get a lot of reps. Gino Gradkowski, Donny Barclay and some of these younger people got a lot more reps than they normally would have and they had great springs because of it.”
Mullen also limited the things White and running back Noel Devine did this spring. He has seen enough of what they can do on film not to risk doing anything foolish with them during the spring.
“We purposely held Noel out of some things and we pulled Pat early in situations. Mentally they know what to do,” Mullen said. “The system we have in place is not that difficult and they are very sharp kids so we feel very confident about that.”
In the final analysis, Mullen says the offensive staff was able to achieve what it set out to do at the beginning of spring practice.
“I was happy that we didn’t get anybody hurt. That was a key. I am happy we learned the system. I feel very confident that our No. 1 unit and a handful of twos know exactly what to do on every given play,” Mullen said.
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