The Mountaineer baseball team is scheduled to appear in a regular season nationally televised game for the first time in program history Friday night as they begin a Big East Conference series at Notre Dame. The contest will begin at 7 p.m. and will be televised by ESPNU. Dari Nowkhah and former major league All-Star Morgan Ensberg will be the announcers.
The Mountaineers begin the weekend in a three way tie for second place in the Big East at 6-3. WVU, Pitt and Louisville are all one game behind pace-setting Connecticut in the league.
The Mountaineers have had recent success with a pair of youngsters at the front of the rotation. Redshirt freshman Marshall Thompson and true freshman Harrison Musgrave are expected to start the first two games of the series. The two have combined to go 7-2 in 13 starts this season. Musgrave is the reigning Big East Conference pitcher of the week following his complete game, three hit shutout win over Georgetown last Saturday in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers continue to lead the conference with a .312 batting average. Notre Dame is last in the league in hitting at .243, but the Irish top two starting pitchers all have tremendous numbers. Brian Dupra leads the conference with a 1.64 ERA as he has allowed just ten earned runs in 55 innings of work with 51 strikeouts. Number two starter Cole Johnson has a 2.86 ERA with 44 strikeouts and 12 walks in 54 innings of work. Both Dupra and Johnson, however, have losing records due to lack of run support.
The Mountaineers are on the road for the third time in four Big East series so far. They won two of three at South Florida while also gaining a game at nationally ranked Louisville. West Virginia swept Georgetown at home last weekend.
Game times this weekend are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be broadcast on WAJR-AM in Morgantown and at WAJR.com.