West Virginia Downs Hawks in Brittain Resorts Invitational

Ryan Bergert tallied 14 strikeouts as the Mountaineers defeated Saint Joseph's 5-1

Myrtle Beach, SC – The West Virginia Mountaineers (5-1) defeated the Saint Joseph’s Hawks (2-4) 5-1 Saturday afternoon in game two of the Brittains Resort Invitational.

Paul McIntosh put the Mountaineers on the board first with a lead off home run in the top of the second giving West Virginia a 1-0 lead.

Tyler Doanes led off the fourth with a triple into the right field corner and Matt McCormick drove him in with a double down the left field line to push the West Virginia lead to 2-0.

West Virginia starting pitcher Ryan Bergert tossed six scoreless innings until Nate Thomas took the goose egg off the board with a solo shot to right field in the seventh to get St Joseph’s within a run. However, Bergert tossed eight and struck out 14 only allowing the one run on two hits.

The Mountaineers tacked on three insurance runs in the ninth when McCormick and Doanes recorded their second hits on the day with back-to-back one out singles. Then, Paul McIntosh tallied his second RBI bringing in Doanes with a fielder choice, that resulted in no outs, and Brophy laid a bunt down to the pitcher Jose Martinez and he opted to go to home but McCormick beat the throw and Brophy beat the throw to first as McIntosh raced around third and made to home to give West Virginia the 5-1 lead.

Zach Ottinger took the mound in the ninth to pick up the save as the Mountaineers have now won the first two game of the Brittains Resort Invitational.

West Virginia will play the final two games of the invitational with a doubleheader on Sunday. The Mountaineers square up against Illinois at 10:00 am, then face Coastal Carolina in the afternoon with the first pitch set for 4:00.