West Virginia Set to Battle in the Central Virginia Classic

UPDATED: March 3, 2023, 9:08 p.m.

West Virginia was scheduled to play William & Mary in the opener of the Central Virginia Classic on Friday but due to poor weather conditions, the game was canceled.

The Mountaineers will now open the weekend with a double header at VCU (2-6) the first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m. and game two will pin WVU against Canisius schedule for approximately 45 minutes following the conclusion of game one. Both contests will be played at Diamond Field in Richmond.

The third game of the weekend classic remains scheduled Sunday versus Richemond (2-6) at noon.

West Virginia has won four of its last five games following a sweep at Arizona and a midweek road win at then-ranked No. 13 Maryland and earned votes in the latest NCBWA and USA Today College Baseball polls.

WVU sophomore second baseman J.J. Wetherholt collected Big 12 Conference Player of the Week after hitting .529 with a pair of home runs and eight stolen bases, including stealing home for the game-winning run in the 11th inning in the Mountaineers' Friday series-opening win over Arizona and helped guide WVU to a 3-1 record last week.

Wetherholt is hitting .467 with a team-high five doubles to go with a conference-leading 12 steals on the season.

Blaine Traxel earned Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after going the distance in the series clinching win over Arizona in game two, allowing one run and struck out six to pick up his first win of the season. The Cal State Northridge transfer’s 14 innings on the season leads the Big 12 and ranks fifth in the league in ERA at 1.29.

Freshman Sam White leads the team in batting with a .478 average after coming in for a struggling Grant Hussey. However, the sophomore has since returned to the lineup, alongside White, and went 3-7 in the last two games, including smashing his first home run of the season.

The Mountaineers is expected to start sophomore Ben Hampton in game one, Traxel will take the mound in game two and sophomore Grant Siegel In the Classic finale.

In both of Hampton’s appearances on the season, he left the game with the lead, but the WVU bullpen failed to close out both games while Seigel collected his first win in the series salvaging win versus Georgia Southern.

VCU is 2-6 on the season after dropping two midweek contests to No. 13 North Carolina.

Will Carlone is hitting .500 with 17 RBI. William Bean and Logan Amiss each have two home runs to lead the team. Projected Saturday starter Christian Gordon is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA and eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched.

Richmond enters the weekend with a 2-6 record after dropping a midweek contest to VMI. The Spiders picked up their first wins of the season against Yale last weekend.

Jake Elbeery leads the team with a .400 batting average while Alden Mathes has three home runs. Former Mountaineer Mikey Kluska is hitting .296 with a home run.

Esteban Rodriguez has made three appearances out of the bullpen and has a 2.45 ERA with 12 strikeouts in 11.0 innings pitched.

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