The Mountaineer baseball team has ten games remaining in the regular season, nine of which are Big East Conference games.
The team recently dropped from 1st to 4th in the conference during a very difficult stretch of six games on the road at Notre Dame and league leading South Florida. The Mountaineers could make much of that ground up over the next two weekends as they play back to back conference series at home against Rutgers and Cincinnati.
The Mountaineers ran into some tough pitching at Notre Dame. Righthanders Brian Dupra and Eric Maust earned back to back complete game victories. Maust, who was a pre-season All-Big East Conference selection fired a five hit shutout in what’s been the best pitched game against the Mountaineers to date.
South Florida then swept a Big East team at home for the third time in three tries as the first place Bulls knocked the Mountaineers off three times last weekend.
Now it comes down to the final nine conference contests to determine what kind of season the Mountaineers will have. The schedule is favorable as the three remaining conference opponents are all behind WVU in the standings. And six of the nine remaining games are at home with the other three just up the road at Pitt.
Mountaineer coach Greg Van Zant has made some recent changes in the lineup and the rotation to give his team the best chance to win. Junior Vince Belnome has struggled with the transition from third to second base. The Mountaineers have inserted a more reliable glove at second in sophomore Colin Durborow. Belnome’s bat is still essential as he continues to lead the conference with 62 RBI. Belnome will remain in the lineup at the designated hitter spot.
Also, the Mountaineers have retooled the conference starting pitching rotation the last few weeks as they search for a reliable third starter. Sophomore Jarryd Summers has developed into a rock solid #1. Van Zant turned to freshman Chase Pickering to pitch game three at South Florida. Pickering responded with the best velocity on his fast ball that we’ve seen so far this year. He could get the start again Saturday against Rutgers. It’s likely junior Billy Gross will be back to the Sunday slot in the rotation this week.
The schedule this weekend for the teams that the Mountaineers are chasing looks like this: South Florida, who is 9-0 in league play so far this year, hosts Cincinnati. The Bulls are in 1st place at 15-3, Cincinnati is in 5th place at 10-8.
Louisville, tied for 2nd place at 12-6, is at 4-14 Villanova.
Second place St. John’s is at 9-9 Seton Hall.