The WVU baseball team will host No. 12 Louisville Friday, Saturday and Sunday in a Big East Conference series.
Two junior college transfers have lifted the WVU offense of late after WVU struggled early in the season to overcome injuries to starters Dan Dibartolomeo and T. J. Kuban.
Outfielder Dom Hayes, who played at Potomac State last season, leads the Mountaineers in hitting this season at .415. Hayes is second on the team with 14 extra base hits. Juco transfer Justin McDavid will take a nine-game hitting streak into the Louisville series. McDavid has 11 extra base hits and is second on the team with 29 RBI.
The Mountaineers will start right-hander Jarryd Summers in game one Friday night. Summers has pitched better than his 1-5 record would indicate. Summers has allowed two runs or less in four of his eight starts including a game against Western Carolina in March when he threw a one-hitter but lost 1-0.
Louisville is 26-6 and ranked 12th in the country but the Cardinals lost two of three last weekend at Pitt.
Louisville has the best and deepest pitching staff in the Big East Conference. Right-hander Thomas Royse is scheduled to start Friday. Royse is 6-1 with a 2.84 ERA. Louisville’s bullpen is headed up by a dominant closer. Neil Holland is 5-0 with a 1.09 ERA.
It will be a challenge for the WVU pitching staff to keep the Louisville hitters inside the yard. Louisville is tied for the conference lead with 46 home runs . Junior Phil Wunderlich leads the team with 11 homers. Adam Duvall and Ryan Wright each have nine on the season.
The Mountaineers are 3-6 in conference play, but they are 0-3 at home in the league having been swept by Connecticut.
Game times for the series at 7:05 p.m. Friday, 3:00 p.m. Saturday at 1 p.m. Sunday. All games can be heard on WAJR 1440 in Morgantown at at WAJR.com.