Post by rainman on Apr 8, 2008 5:25:20 GMT -5
Mountaineer baseball team clicking so far
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— West Virginia University isn’t playing baseball like a 10th-place team as the Big East coaches predicted in the preseason poll.
The young Mountaineers are 24-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference standings after a trio of three-game series, and Coach Greg Van Zant admitted Monday afternoon that he’s delighted with the somewhat surprising success to this point.
“I’d like to win every game, but I’m very happy with where we are,” he said. Our guys have competed hard and played well. We’d love to have beaten South Florida in the third game Sunday. But if someone had told me before that series that we could win two of the three games, I’d taken that in a hurry.”
A surprise to him was the pitching of newcomer Steve Morrison to the pitching staff. A transfer sophomore at mid-year, the left-hander has a 4-1 record and 2.81 ERA for five starts. He spent a season and a fall at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.
Morrison and third baseman Vince Belnome played together through high school and in Legion baseball.
“We heard he was pretty good, so planned to use him in the bullpen,” Van Zant said. “But he’s had a really, really good start and was exceptional until the second game against USF. He’s really done well. So that’s a big surprise.”
So has been the productivity of three true freshmen that are everyday players. They are Dan DiBartolomeo in leftfield, catcher Tobias Streich, and second baseman Jedd Gyorko of Morgantown.
“Those three guys have played exceptionally well,” the veteran coach noted. “So that’s three freshmen in the lineup, playing well defensively and hitting the ball.
“Gyorko is hitting third and playing real well defensively (errorless through 30 games). Streich has a great arm and he keeps the other team from running on us and has done a good job of hitting.
“DiBartolome is an infielder, but we moved him to left field to get his bat in the lineup and he’s really played good defense. He’s also had some clutch hits for us. A big double at Rutgers and we won that game. He also had a big hit for us in the bottom of the ninth against USF in game two when we made the big comeback.
“All those guys are hitting over .300. I think Gyorko is hitting over .400. It’s hard to count on true freshmen and transfers to do well, but these guys have.”
As a team, the Mountaineers are batting a phenomenal .366 to rank third in the NCAA. What’s more, five starters and a reserve are belting the ball at better than a .400 clip.
Those are Gyorko (.438), first baseman Joe Agreste (.422), Belnome (.417), senior shortstop Tyler Kuhn (.417) and catcher/utilityman Justin Parks .(409). Batting an even .400 in five games is Colin Durborow, a reserve infielder.
Wonder how many other NCAA Division I clubs could match that feat?
“We’ve got a lot of good hitters in the lineup, and they’re confident and all are seeing the ball well and hitting well,” Van Zant said.
West Virginia had to battle back in all three USF games, overcoming 13-4 and 6-1 deficits in the two victories. It lost the third game in 11 innings.
While WVU made five errors in Sunday’s loss, Van Zant said that was most characteristic; that over the long haul of the season, it has been a sound defensively team. The Mountaineers are top three in the Big East in fielding.
He thinks this year’s team has a little more pitching than the 2006 team that enjoyed a 25-4 start before slipping into a lengthy skid and finishing with a 36-22 record.
Chris Enourato, a sophomore right-hander, is a sharp closer. He earned both a save and win last Saturday, has a 3-0 record, five saves and owns a 1.23 ERA. Junior Josh Whitlock is 6-1 with a 4.12 ERA, sophomore Billy Gross 4-1 and 2.09, Morrison 4-1 and 2.81, Jarryd Summers 3-2 and 3.18, and both Matt Yrish and Ross Fetterly are each 2-1.
The veteran coach believes several hurlers give WVU a chance at victory.
Only 23 games remain, including a three-game series with Notre Dame April 18-20 at Hawley Field.
This team has proved already that it’s certainly worth watching if you like good baseball.
By Mickey Furfari
For the Times West Virginian
MORGANTOWN— West Virginia University isn’t playing baseball like a 10th-place team as the Big East coaches predicted in the preseason poll.
The young Mountaineers are 24-7 overall and 6-3 in the conference standings after a trio of three-game series, and Coach Greg Van Zant admitted Monday afternoon that he’s delighted with the somewhat surprising success to this point.
“I’d like to win every game, but I’m very happy with where we are,” he said. Our guys have competed hard and played well. We’d love to have beaten South Florida in the third game Sunday. But if someone had told me before that series that we could win two of the three games, I’d taken that in a hurry.”
A surprise to him was the pitching of newcomer Steve Morrison to the pitching staff. A transfer sophomore at mid-year, the left-hander has a 4-1 record and 2.81 ERA for five starts. He spent a season and a fall at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania.
Morrison and third baseman Vince Belnome played together through high school and in Legion baseball.
“We heard he was pretty good, so planned to use him in the bullpen,” Van Zant said. “But he’s had a really, really good start and was exceptional until the second game against USF. He’s really done well. So that’s a big surprise.”
So has been the productivity of three true freshmen that are everyday players. They are Dan DiBartolomeo in leftfield, catcher Tobias Streich, and second baseman Jedd Gyorko of Morgantown.
“Those three guys have played exceptionally well,” the veteran coach noted. “So that’s three freshmen in the lineup, playing well defensively and hitting the ball.
“Gyorko is hitting third and playing real well defensively (errorless through 30 games). Streich has a great arm and he keeps the other team from running on us and has done a good job of hitting.
“DiBartolome is an infielder, but we moved him to left field to get his bat in the lineup and he’s really played good defense. He’s also had some clutch hits for us. A big double at Rutgers and we won that game. He also had a big hit for us in the bottom of the ninth against USF in game two when we made the big comeback.
“All those guys are hitting over .300. I think Gyorko is hitting over .400. It’s hard to count on true freshmen and transfers to do well, but these guys have.”
As a team, the Mountaineers are batting a phenomenal .366 to rank third in the NCAA. What’s more, five starters and a reserve are belting the ball at better than a .400 clip.
Those are Gyorko (.438), first baseman Joe Agreste (.422), Belnome (.417), senior shortstop Tyler Kuhn (.417) and catcher/utilityman Justin Parks .(409). Batting an even .400 in five games is Colin Durborow, a reserve infielder.
Wonder how many other NCAA Division I clubs could match that feat?
“We’ve got a lot of good hitters in the lineup, and they’re confident and all are seeing the ball well and hitting well,” Van Zant said.
West Virginia had to battle back in all three USF games, overcoming 13-4 and 6-1 deficits in the two victories. It lost the third game in 11 innings.
While WVU made five errors in Sunday’s loss, Van Zant said that was most characteristic; that over the long haul of the season, it has been a sound defensively team. The Mountaineers are top three in the Big East in fielding.
He thinks this year’s team has a little more pitching than the 2006 team that enjoyed a 25-4 start before slipping into a lengthy skid and finishing with a 36-22 record.
Chris Enourato, a sophomore right-hander, is a sharp closer. He earned both a save and win last Saturday, has a 3-0 record, five saves and owns a 1.23 ERA. Junior Josh Whitlock is 6-1 with a 4.12 ERA, sophomore Billy Gross 4-1 and 2.09, Morrison 4-1 and 2.81, Jarryd Summers 3-2 and 3.18, and both Matt Yrish and Ross Fetterly are each 2-1.
The veteran coach believes several hurlers give WVU a chance at victory.
Only 23 games remain, including a three-game series with Notre Dame April 18-20 at Hawley Field.
This team has proved already that it’s certainly worth watching if you like good baseball.
