MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The University baseball team has flown a bit under the radar from a statewide perspective this year out of Class AAA as the Hawks have been trying to get back to the state tournament for the first time since 2004.
University (24-5) has won 10 straight games heading into regional action next week, including 6-4 and 13-0 sectional wins over Preston.
“We knew we had a chance to be good this year,” said University coach Donovan ‘Buck’ Riggleman. “We took the seniors aside and told them that we had high expectations with this group and we wanted to set the bar pretty high. We also knew that we had some underclassmen who would push for spots at the varsity level.”
That mesh of talent has worked out just fine for the Hawks as they won 13 straight games from March 27 to April 24. Included in that stretch was a trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida where University won six games over spring break.
“We had a great trip to Florida and played against quality teams,” Riggleman said. “And that mesh that we have with the underclassmen and upperclassmen really came together over that trip, I believe.”
University last year finished with a 13-13 record, falling to Preston in sectional play. The Hawks returned three senior starters from that group, including standouts Tristan Lucas (CF) and four-hitter/pitching ace Jeremy Eckels.
“Tristan has been hitting right around .500 all year,” Riggleman said. “Jeremy has been our go-to guy on the mound and is nearing double digits in wins. Those two have been successful here at University High School in just about every aspect.”
The Hawks on Monday have a regional semifinal matchup with rival Morgantown (18-11). The Mohigans took the only regular season meeting between the two teams back in March, 10-3.
“Coach McCarty does a great job with those guys,” Riggleman said. “They had a little bit of a lull mid-season, but they’ve been on a streak here of late. The last couple of weeks they’ve been hitting the ball very well and have some young players who have stepped up. It’s going to be a task, but we look forward to it and we hope to get the job done.”
The winner of that regional semifinal will then face either Wheeling Park, Parkersburg or Parkersburg South for a chance to advance into the state tournament.
“It would be huge for us to get back to Charleston,” Riggleman said. “We set our goals to make it to there this year. We broke our season into thirds, the games before Cocoa Beach, the return from Cocoa Beach and then the postseason. So far, we’re two-thirds of the way there.
“We need to continue to play defensively sound baseball, limiting those mistakes,” he continued. “We need to continue to put pressure on the opposing defense by putting the ball in play. We’ve been very fortunate to have limited our number of strikeouts per game and we’ve put pressure on the opposing defense.”
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| UNIVERSITY 2015 Baseball Schedule |
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| 1 | 03/23/15 | 05:00PM | H | BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR | 13 | – | 8 | W |
| 2 | 03/24/15 | 05:00PM | H | WHEELING PARK | 3 | – | 5 | L |
| 3 | 03/25/15 | 05:00PM | H | MORGANTOWN | 3 | – | 10 | L |
| 4 | 03/27/15 | 05:00PM | A | MARTINSBURG | 10 | – | 0 | W |
| 5 | 04/01/15 | 04:00PM | A | Belle Plain (MN) – Coco Beach Tour | 15 | – | 5 | W |
| 6 | 04/02/15 | 04:00PM | A | Madeira (OH) – Coco Beach Tour | 7 | – | 2 | W |
| 7 | 04/03/15 | 04:00PM | A | Calgery (Can) – Coco Beach Tour | 14 | – | 8 | W |
| 8 | 04/03/15 | 04:00PM | A | Calgery (Can) – Coco Beach Tour | 11 | – | 2 | W |
| 9 | 04/04/15 | 06:00PM | H | Fayetteville Perry (OH) – Coco Beach Tour | 11 | – | 8 | W |
| 10 | 04/04/15 | 04:00PM | A | Fayetteville Perry (OH) – Coco Beach Tour | 3 | – | 1 | W |
| 11 | Cancelled | 05:00PM | A | PARKERSBURG SOUTH | – | |||
| 12 | 04/10/15 | 05:30PM | A | MADONNA | 6 | – | 2 | W |
| 13 | Cancelled | 04:00PM | A | WHEELING PARK | – | |||
| 14 | Cancelled | 05:00PM | A | MORGANTOWN | – | |||
| 15 | 04/15/15 | 05:00PM | A | WHEELING PARK | 4 | – | 3 | W |
| 16 | 04/16/15 | 05:00PM | A | JOHN MARSHALL | 13 | – | 3 | W |
| 17 | Cancelled | 05:00PM | H | PARKERSBURG SOUTH | – | |||
| 18 | 04/17/15 | 05:00PM | H | PRESTON HIGH SCHOOL | 10 | – | 0 | W |
| 19 | Cancelled | 05:00PM | A | Brooke High School | – | |||
| 20 | Cancelled | 05:00PM | H | JOHN MARSHALL | – | |||
| 21 | 04/23/15 | 05:00PM | H | Brooke High School | 8 | – | 4 | W |
| 22 | 04/24/15 | 06:30PM | A | FAIRMONT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL | 4 | – | 0 | W |
| 23 | 04/25/15 | 04:00PM | A | STEUBENVILLE | 0 | – | 1 | L |
| 24 | 04/27/15 | 05:00PM | H | BRIDGEPORT | 4 | – | 10 | L |
| 25 | 04/28/15 | 04:00PM | A | St. Clairsville @ consol Energy Park | 7 | – | 14 | L |
| 26 | 04/29/15 | 05:00PM | A | PRESTON HIGH SCHOOL | 10 | – | 0 | W |
| 27 | 04/30/15 | 07:00PM | A | BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR | 7 | – | 4 | W |
| 28 | 05/05/15 | 05:00PM | H | FAIRMONT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL | 13 | – | 4 | W |
| 29 | 05/06/15 | 06:30PM | A | EAST FAIRMONT | 10 | – | 5 | W |
| 30 | Cancelled | 04:30PM | A | BRIDGEPORT | – | |||
| 31 | 05/08/15 | 05:00PM | H | MARTINSBURG | 10 | – | 2 | W |
| 32 | 05/11/15 | 05:00PM | H | PRESTON HIGH SCHOOL | 6 | – | 4 | W |
| 33 | 05/12/15 | 05:00PM | H | PRESTON HIGH SCHOOL | 13 | – | 0 | W |
| 34 | 05/18/15 | 05:00PM | H | BUCKHANNON-UPSHUR | 3 | – | 0 | W |
| 35 | 05/19/15 | 05:00PM | A | BRAXTON COUNTY | 9 | – | 1 | W |
| 36 | 05/20/15 | 05:00PM | H | CLAY-BATTELLE | 9 | – | 2 |
W |
| 37 | 05/22/15 | 05:00PM | H | BRAXTON COUNTY | – | |||
| wins: 24 lost: 5 ties: 0 | ||||||||