TicketsApril 13, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va.---West Virginia scored in each of the first six innings, rolling past Cincinnati 16-4 on Friday night at Hawley Field. The Mountaineers got a school record five hits from Trent Ridgley and 12 strikeouts from Matt Yurish in moving into sole possession of sixth place in the BIG EAST standings.
It proved to be a long night for the Bearcats (18-15, 4-6 BIG EAST) as West Virginia tallied 19 hits, including seven for extra bases. The Mountaineers got to UC pitching ace Steve Blevins for seven runs and 13 hits in just four innings in the shortest outing of the sophomore's season.
The story of the game for WVU (21-10, 5-5 BIG EAST) was Ridgley, who matched the Mountaineer record with five hits, including a pair of home runs, while driving in five. The senior also pitched the final two innings in scoreless fashion, striking out two along the way.
Cincinnati actually jumped to a 2-0 lead as Tony Campana led the game off with a double and was safe at third on a fielder's choice/error off of Josh Harrison's bat. Campana would later score on a Yurish wild pitch and Harrison raced home when Michael Obyc drove his first career triple inside the right field line.
West Virginia took advantage of an uncharacteristically wild Blevins in the bottom of the first as following two walks, Austin Markel capitalized with an RBI single. The hosts tied the score at two in the second when Ridgley led off with his first homer of the season.
The Mountaineer bats started to heat up in the third as WVU scored four times on the strength of seven hits, including an RBI triple by Justin Jenkins. UC scored single runs in the fourth and fifth innings on a Jamel Scott fielder's choice and a run-scoring base hit by Neall French.
WVU would go one batter however, getting a run in the fourth on a Jenkins home run and two more in the fifth against reliever Kyle Rapp. Things went from bad to worse in the sixth as the Mountaineers exploded for seven runs against three different UC hurlers. Tyler Kuhn started the outburst with a two-run single and Ridgley put a huge exclamation point on with a grand slam against Evan Sanford.
Cincinnati finished the night with eight hits, but no player had more than one. West Virginia totaled 19 hits, with Kuhn, Vince Belnome and Justin Parks each adding three to Ridgley's total of five.
Yurish (2-2) was outstanding, allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits, while striking out 12 in seven innings of work.
Weather permitting; the two teams will square off on Saturday with a 2 p.m. first pitch on tap. The scheduled pitching match up features UC five-game winner Dan Osterbrock, taking on WVU's Levi Maxwell.