MORGANTOWN, W.Va.\u2013 The West Virginia baseball team opens its BIG EAST Conference portion of the schedule this weekend in Tampa, Fla., as the team travels to take on USF on March 25-27.<\/p>\n
First pitch for game one Friday is 7 p.m., with Saturday\u2019s game also having a 7 p.m. start time, and Sunday\u2019s finale getting underway at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe schedule 25 games before conference play and we were able to play 23, so we\u2019re going to be as ready as we can be,\u201d coach Greg Van Zant says. \u201cThis first weekend is going to be a huge challenge playing USF on the road, as they are an excellent team and have probably played the toughest non-conference schedule in the BIG EAST.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mountaineers, 14-9 on the season, are coming off series split with Eastern Michigan last Tuesday in Morgantown. West Virginia won the first game 20-6, while falling 9-7 in the second game. Both games were seven-inning contests.<\/p>\n
In the first game, senior shortstop Grant Buckner and redshirt junior second baseman Dan DiBartolomeo each hit their fourth home runs of the season, while senior catcher Kevin Griffin led the team offensively with a 4-for-5 performance, including two doubles, two runs and three RBIs. Redshirt freshman Marshall Thompson recorded his third consecutive victory in the first game rout.<\/p>\n
Sophomore outfielder Brady Wilson leads the Mountaineers with a .413 batting average and is third on the team with 21 runs. Senior designated hitter Jeremy Gum is hitting .403 on the year with a team-high nine doubles, while also recording two home runs and 14 RBIs. DiBartolomeo (.382, 4 HR, 18 RBIs), senior Justin McDavid (.319, 1 HR, 25 RBIs) and Buckner (.306, 4 HR, 19 RBIs) are all hitting better than a .300 clip.<\/p>\n
Junior southpaw Jonathan Jones (2-2, 6.75) will get the call in the series opener for the Mountaineers. Saturday and Sunday\u2019s starters are to be determined.<\/p>\n
Out of the bullpen, freshman righty Ryan Tezak has been West Virginia\u2019s most active reliever. Tezak has appeared in seven games in relief and is 0-0 with a 4.66 ERA.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really talked to the pitchers yesterday at practice about the high priority of throwing strikes,\u201d Van Zant says. \u201cWe need to do everything we can to minimize walks because if you go down there and walk guys, they\u2019re going to beat us.\u201d<\/p>\n
USF enters BIG EAST play with a 9-12 record, including a 6-6 home record. The Bulls, picked to finish fourth in the conference by the league\u2019s coaches, lost their last game, 9-5, at Florida Gulf Coast on Tuesday evening. USF is hitting .250 as a team, while the Bulls pitching staff has compiled a 3.68 ERA.<\/p>\n
Offensively, Sam Mende leads the Bulls with a .354 batting average. Mende has crossed the plate 11 times and driven in eight runs on the season. Todd Brazeal is hitting .250 with a homer and leads the team with 13 RBIs, while James Ramsay and Andrew Longley lead the team with two home runs apiece.<\/p>\n
Senior right-handed pitcher Randy Fontanez will start Friday\u2019s series opener. Fontanez is 1-2 on the season with a 3.21 ERA in five starts. Freshman lefty Nick Gonzalez will start on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Gonzalez has a 2-1 record with a 4.50 ERA in five starts, while junior southpaw Matt Reed will start Sunday\u2019s finale. Reed is 1-1 with a 2.61 ERA in four starts.<\/p>\n
Kevin Quackenbush leads USF with 11 appearances out of the bullpen and has five saves on the year with a 0-1 record and a 0.73 ERA. Zach Pietrzyk has pitched in 10 games and has a 1-1 record with a 5.56 ERA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.\u2013 The West Virginia baseball team opens its BIG EAST Conference portion of the schedule this weekend in Tampa, Fla., as the team travels to take on USF on March 25-27. First pitch for game one Friday is 7 p.m., with Saturday\u2019s game also having a 7 p.m. start time, and Sunday\u2019s finale getting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[80,240,239,238,242,196,244,243,60,241,236,114,237,67,115,63,113],"class_list":["post-3383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","tag-baseball","tag-big-east","tag-big-east-baseball-conference","tag-big-east-conference","tag-eastern-michigan","tag-eastern-michigan-baseball","tag-florida-baseball","tag-florida-baseball-tournament","tag-mountaineers","tag-usf","tag-west-virginia","tag-west-virginia-baseball","tag-west-virginia-mountaineers-baseball","tag-west-virginia-university","tag-west-virginia-university-mountaineers","tag-wvu","tag-wvu-baseball"],"yoast_head":"\n