Post by elp525 on May 26, 2010 4:42:11 GMT -5
May 25, 2010
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MORGANTOWN - As a reward for miraculously keeping its season alive, West Virginia's baseball team earned the most difficult draw in the Big East tournament that begins today in Clearwater, Fla.
Not that the Mountaineers are complaining.
West Virginia (27-28) won 11 of its last 13 games, dug itself out of the Big East cellar in a matter of three weeks and earned the eighth and final seed in the tournament at Bright House Field.
The reward is an opening-round game against No. 1 seed Louisville (46-10) at 5 p.m. today. The double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday.
"We've done a heck of a job staying resilient and battling back this season, and hopefully we will use that strength to defeat a quality team in Louisville," West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant said. "We've seen the Cardinals this season and know what they're capable of, and we'll look to stay focused this week and do what it takes to advance in the tournament."
Three weeks ago, West Virginia was 3-15 in Big East play before winning seven of nine in the league (plus two non-conference games). Even with that strong finish, the Mountaineers needed help to reach the eighth spot in the league standings and qualify for the tournament and got it from Louisville. The Cardinals swept Notre Dame in a three-game series last weekend to eliminate the Irish.
This will be WVU's ninth appearance in the tournament and third in a row.
Louisville, ranked No. 9 in the country, swept West Virginia in the teams' regular-season series in Morgantown April 17-18. Only one of the games was close, a 12-9 Cardinal win in 11 innings in the second game of a doubleheader.
During that April series, Louisville batted .390 as a team with six home runs, 30 RBIs and a .610 slugging percentage. But WVU's pitching staff has been much better of late. In the final 11 games of the season, Mountaineer pitchers are a combined 9-2 with a 4.20 ERA while holding the opposition to a .282 batting average. Reliever Andy Altemus earned WVU's first Big East pitcher of the week honor last week after allowing one run in 132/3 innings against Villanova.
In that 9-2 stretch to close the season, West Virginia also hit the ball well, batting .333 with 16 home runs, 76 RBIs, 83 runs and a .543 team slugging percentage.
By Dave Hickman
Staff writer
MORGANTOWN - As a reward for miraculously keeping its season alive, West Virginia's baseball team earned the most difficult draw in the Big East tournament that begins today in Clearwater, Fla.
Not that the Mountaineers are complaining.
West Virginia (27-28) won 11 of its last 13 games, dug itself out of the Big East cellar in a matter of three weeks and earned the eighth and final seed in the tournament at Bright House Field.
The reward is an opening-round game against No. 1 seed Louisville (46-10) at 5 p.m. today. The double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday.
"We've done a heck of a job staying resilient and battling back this season, and hopefully we will use that strength to defeat a quality team in Louisville," West Virginia coach Greg Van Zant said. "We've seen the Cardinals this season and know what they're capable of, and we'll look to stay focused this week and do what it takes to advance in the tournament."
Three weeks ago, West Virginia was 3-15 in Big East play before winning seven of nine in the league (plus two non-conference games). Even with that strong finish, the Mountaineers needed help to reach the eighth spot in the league standings and qualify for the tournament and got it from Louisville. The Cardinals swept Notre Dame in a three-game series last weekend to eliminate the Irish.
This will be WVU's ninth appearance in the tournament and third in a row.
Louisville, ranked No. 9 in the country, swept West Virginia in the teams' regular-season series in Morgantown April 17-18. Only one of the games was close, a 12-9 Cardinal win in 11 innings in the second game of a doubleheader.
During that April series, Louisville batted .390 as a team with six home runs, 30 RBIs and a .610 slugging percentage. But WVU's pitching staff has been much better of late. In the final 11 games of the season, Mountaineer pitchers are a combined 9-2 with a 4.20 ERA while holding the opposition to a .282 batting average. Reliever Andy Altemus earned WVU's first Big East pitcher of the week honor last week after allowing one run in 132/3 innings against Villanova.
In that 9-2 stretch to close the season, West Virginia also hit the ball well, batting .333 with 16 home runs, 76 RBIs, 83 runs and a .543 team slugging percentage.
