Box score (game 1)
Box score (game 2)
MORGANTOWN, WV--Powerful West Virginia opened its 2009 home baseball schedule Saturday with a 19-0, 13-3 doubleheader sweep of NJIT, which was opening its season.
The Mountaineers (5-3), who play in the Big East Conference, came into their home opener having already generated double-figure scoring totals in wins over Indiana (14-4) and Northwestern (10-5), both of the Big Ten Conference, plus an 11-6 win on February 27 against traditional national power Tennessee. WVU also scored 10 runs in a loss to Illinois of the Big Ten.
The Mountaineers rolled to 15 runs in the first three innings of their 19-0 win in Saturday's first game and they did eight runs worth of damage in their last two at-bats in winning the nightcap, 13-3, against the Highlanders.
West Virginia gave sophomore RHP Jarryd Summers (2-0) more runs than he would need when the Mountaineers scored four times in the bottom of the first inning off of the NJIT starter, senior LHP Matt Melody (0-1).
The Mountaineers added four more runs in the second and seven in the third, as Melody gave way to freshman RHP Reid Okita. Okita, a native of Hawaii making his college debut, allowed two runs in West Virginia's seven-run third inning and then a pair of runs in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively.
Summers, the Mountaineer pitcher, tossed seven innings of four-hit, shutout ball, striking out 10 without allowing a walk.
West Virginia 2B Vince Belnome went 4-for-5, including three doubles, and scored four runs while driving in three. Three Mountaineers drove home four runs apiece, including 3B Dan DiBartolomeo, who hit the game's only home run, a grand slam, that keyed the seven-run third inning.
NJIT's four hits were all singles, two of which came from sophomore LF Matt Tomczyk, who finished the game 2-for-3 batting second in the order.
Saturday's nightcap, won by West Virginia, 13-3, was not decided as early and as thoroughly as the opener, even though the Mountaineers scored at least once in each inning. They got a run in the first, two in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth for a 5-0 lead before the Highlanders scored their first run of the season in the top of the fifth inning.
NJIT starting pitcher, sophomore RHP Steven Ace, who was a spot reliever as a freshman, had scattered five hits in allowing five runs through the first four innings, but got touched up for three runs in the fifth before the Mountaineers added five more runs in the sixth against reliever Chris Parenti.
The Highlanders continued to score themselves, adding a run in the sixth on the first college home run for freshman DH Dan Moreno and a run in the seventh on an RBI double by 2B Craig Binkiewicz.
Binkiewicz, who will be a four-year starter, came to NJIT as an infielder, but played the outfield his first three seasons in college. Now back in the infield, he went 3-for-4 in Saturday's nightcap and 4-for-8 in the doubleheader.
The winning pitcher for West Virginia was LHP Jonathan Jones (2-0) who went 6.2 innings before getting help from RHP Andy Podolinski, who closed out the game by recording the last out. Jones allowed six hits and two walks, while striking out four Highlanders.
The Mountaineers, who rapped out 12 hits, got two hits each from six different players. RF Grant Buckner (2-2) drove in four runs.
NJIT and West Virginia are scheduled to play another doubleheader on Sunday, starting at noon.
