MORGANTOWN – The West Virginia University baseball team will travel to Wilmington, N.C., for the Hughes Brothers Challenge from Feb. 25-27, at Brooks Field. The Mountaineers will then trek to Winston-Salem, N.C., for agame with Wake Forest on Feb. 28.
WVU opens against Miami, Ohio, of the Mid-American Conference on Friday at noon, then faces Marist on Saturday atnoon. WVU finishes with tournament host UNC Wilmington on Sunday afternoon at1:30 p.m. The single-game series with Wake Forest will be held Monday at 4 p.m.
The Mountaineers (2-1) are coming off asuccessful season-opener at the BIG EAST/Big Ten Challenge in Clearwater, Fla.WVU began the challenge with a 5-0 win against Iowa, followed by a 3-2 loss toPenn State and ended the challenge with a 5-4 walk-off victory againstIllinois.
WVU was led offensively by Matt Frazer, Brady Wilson, Justin McDavid and Grant Buckner. Frazer finished the weekend going 6-for-10 with two doubles and two walks. Wilson finished 7-for-12 with one double and two runs scored. McDavid had the game-winning hit against Illinois, finishing 4-for-8 with three RBIs. Buckner had two home runs in his first two at-bats of the season, and finished the series with five runs scored, including thegame-winning run against Illinois.
Jonathan Jones, Harrison Musgrave and Andy Berry all provided quality starts. Jones and Musgrave pitched 6.1 and 6.2 innings, respectively, while not giving up a run or a walk, and surrendering only five hits combined. Berry went 4.2 innings, giving up two earned runs onthree hits.
This will be the first meeting between WVUand Miami, Ohio. The RedHawks opened the season at the College of Charleston Invitational, dropping games to Marshall and College of Charleston. Miami, Ohiofinished the tournament with a 3-1 win against Kentucky.
The RedHawks are led offensively by Ryan Kaup,who went 5-for-11 in the season-opening series. Kaup also had a double, scored a run and had an RBI. Miami’s probable starter is right-hander Mac Thoreson,who is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six innings pitched in his last start.
WVU is 1-1 all-time against Marist, with the last meeting coming in 2007, a 6-5 win by the Mountaineers. Marist opened the season with a three-game series against East Tennessee State. The Red Foxestook the middle game of the series with a 5-1 win, while falling in the openingand closing games.
Mike Orefice and Pat Welsh lead Marist with.364 batting averages in three games started, both going 4-for-11. Orefice finished the ETSU series with four runs scored. Marist is expected to pitch left-hander Chad Gallagher who is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 5.2 innings of work.
WVU’s starting pitchers are still to be determined.
Discussion about this post