Saturday, May 15, 2004

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (May 15, 2004) - West Virginia scored single runs in the first, third, sixth and seventh innings and Mountaineer starter Shawn Miller turned in a strong performance as WVU defeated ETSU, 4-0 Saturday afternoon from Hawley Field in Morgantown, W. Va. The Mountaineers (20-28) took the early lead, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. Jake Serfass led off the inning with a single and moved to second as Grant Psomas walked. The two runners advanced on a groundout by Kurtis Clinton and Serfass crossed the plate on a groundout by Stan Posluszny. WVU added a run to their lead in the bottom of the third. Psomas hit a one-out double off of the left field wall and scored later in the inning on an infield single by Clinton. Kyle Matuszek added a run to the Mountaineer lead in the bottom of the sixth with his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot over the right-center field wall. West Virginia ran their lead to 4-0 with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Justin Richards led off the inning with a double to left, then moved to third when Serfass reached on an error. Richards scored on a sacrifice fly by Psomas on a great diving catch in center field by Buccaneer senior Tim Turner (Marietta, Ga.). Turner hit a two-out triple in the top of the eighth, but following a 32-minute rain delay, the Bucs were unable to score him from third. ETSU (26-25) senior starter Josh Kite (Greeneville, Tenn.) took the tough-luck loss (2-3), allowing two runs over five innings. Kite also walked two and struck out five on the afternoon. Miller (5-5) went the distance for the Mountaineers, allowing no runs on five hits, walking two and striking out four. The top five batters in the ETSU batting order, Turner, sophomore right fielder Shane Byrne (Johnson City, Tenn.), junior catcher Caleb Moore (Knoxville, Tenn.), sophomore first baseman Blake Church (Roswell, Ga.) and senior shortstop Andy Howdeshell (Maryville, Tenn.) each had hits on the afternoon. Richards and Psomas both had two hits today for West Virginia. East Tennessee State returns home to conclude the regular season with a five-game homestand next week. The first game of the week will be against Tennessee Tech, Tuesday night at 7 p.m. from Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn.