Skip to main content

The West Virginia baseball team opened up their home slate of games on Tuesday night in dominant fashion after knocking off Canisius, 15-8.

Freshman catcher Matt McCormick led the Mountaineers at the plate after going four for six with a home run. Senior outfielder Braden Zarbnisky recorded three hits in four at bats while right fielder Austin Davis registered three hits as well.

"Zarb is just a great college player – both sides of the baseball," WVU coach Randy Mazey said. "He's super valuable, and he never gets rattled. He's been around for five years now and knows the ropes pretty well. And having Matt McCormick start to swing the bat well is really going to help us down the stretch."

Canisius jumped on the board to open the game in the top of the first by plating two runs before West Virginia responded with a run on a McCormick RBI single in the bottom half of the inning.

Junior infielder Tyler Doanes then knocked a two-run single in the bottom of the second which brought home a run.

The bottom of the third saw sophomore infielder Austin Davis bring home a run on an RBI triple before Zarbnisky came through with an RBI single to make it a 6-2 Mountaineer advantage.

The top of the fifth saw Canisius tie the ballgame as the Golden Griffins plated five runs of their own before the Mountaineers answered with three runs.

Zarbnisky tripled home a run in the bottom of the fifth before Doanes came home from third base on a wild pitch. McCormick also singled home a run for the 9-6 lead.

Canisius fought back in the sixth inning with a pair of runs but West Virginia stole five bases in the bottom of the frame and put the game away after totaling six runs.

The bottom half of the sixth began with a freshman outfielder Tyler DeMartino RBI single which was followed by a sophomore infielder Tevin Tucker bunt single that brought home two runs.

A balk ensued in the next at bat before Doanes and Scott each drove home runs on a pair of singles for the 15-8 final score.

West Virginia had seven total pitchers toe the rubber on Tuesday including freshman right hander Tim Wynia who earned his first win as a Mountaineer after coming in for relief in the top of the fifth.

Five of the six pitchers on the night for West Virginia were all freshmen in right handers Tyler Strechay, Skylar Gonzalez, Carter Lyles, Jacob Watters and Noah Short. Sophomore right-hander Madison Jeffrey was the only non-freshman to pitch on the night.

West Virginia will now travel south to Myrtle Beach for the Brittain Resorts Invitational tournament where the Mountaineers will play in games from Feb. 21st-23rd.