WVU Baseball (3-0) started the season with a road sweep at Georgia Southern (0-3), giving the Mountaineers a solid foundation. The series leaves us with several first impressions to dissect, including the state of pitchers, hot bats, and slugging potential. Read more: Three first impressions following WVU Baseball’s opening weekend.
Outside of a bizarre game two, the series mostly favored WVU.
A lot of it came down to the invaluable asset of experience, as GASO entered the weekend with 14 true freshmen on the roster. It showed at certain points, especially in the first game (15-3).
Let’s look at the weekend, shall we?
Bats are hot
WVU outscored the Eagles by 16 runs across three games. The Mountaineers scored 15, 11, and five runs, respectively.
Batters were relatively consistent, as the team finished the series with a batting average of .308 and .908 OPS. Out of 31 total runs, 24 were batted in.
Even in game three, when the scoring cooled down, timely hits came into play. Matthew Graveline nailed an RBI single in the top of the ninth inning for insurance. He finished the weekend accounting for both WVU home runs.
Related: Mountaineers sweep Georgia Southern with clutch 5-2 victory
WVU showcased its fiery offensive potential.
More than a can of Korn
I have to bring it up.
Ian Korn made his WVU debut over the weekend, although not as a starter. The DII call-up struggled mightily, allowing five earned runs in four innings.
He gave up two doubles and the only home run of the weekend as well. It’s too early to tell, but keep an eye on Korn as the season progresses. Reports in the fall indicated similar woes, but he joined the program as a marquee acquisition.
On the bright side, Korn nabbed three strikeouts and didn’t allow a walk (or hit a batter).
Despite the numbers on the paper, WVU Baseball Head Coach Steve Sabins praised his performance during Monday’s press availability.
“Ian Korn really neutralized and stabilized the game for us and he clipped off four innings,” Sabins said. “So those kids [former DII pitchers] did great, especially in their first outing.”
Give him time to settle down… we’ll reassess down the road.
On a side note, shoutout to Dawson Montesa. Of the three former DII pitchers, he had the most efficient outing.
Keep em’ healthy
Brodie Kresser and Gavin Kelly took dings against Georgia Southern, but seem to be doing fine.
“He [Brodie] was walking around the airport,” Sabins said. “He got banged up, he got a fastball to the shin and it blew up pretty good. So he had a baseball-sized welt on his shin, so it was hard to put weight on, but he was moving good.”
“Gavin’s good, no issues there… he had a pretty heavy weekend, though,” Sabins said.
Kresser is scheduled to be evaluated throughout the week leading up to the series against Liberty. Kelly is good to go, but dealt with the tall order of playing second base and catcher at different points against GASO.
One can’t simply control injuries, but keep the bug far away from this team — especially returning stars such as the aforementioned pair.
Overall
Other first impressions include handling adversity and not blowing leads. WVU led 7-0 in the first inning of game two, but had to fend off a comeback attempt in the 11-10 triumph.
Baseball season is a long and winding road, but we at least have more than offseason predictions to go off of for now.
WVU is back in action against Liberty in a three-game series. First pitch times from Lynchburg, Virginia, are posted below.
- Friday, February 20: 4 p.m.
- Saturday, February 21: 2 p.m.
- Sunday, February 22: 1 p.m.
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