Baseball: Mountaineers Defeat Rider

By Grant Dovey for WVUsports.com
March 13, 2011 03:22 PM

Kevin Griffin

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Three home runs by the Mountaineers in the bottom of the fifth and a complete game by pitcher Harrison Musgrave fueled West Virginia to a 7-3 victory over Rider on Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field. The game was the first of a doubleheader.

West Virginia had home runs from Dan DiBartolomeo, Kevin Griffin and Colin Durborow to bring the lead to 7-3. All three home runs were to left field, with Griffin’s driving in Jeremy Gum, who had reached base on a single to right field.

WVU (8-6) finished with seven runs on 10 hits with one error, while Rider (4-7) had three runs on six hits and one error.

Musgrave went all seven innings, allowed six hits and three runs, one earned. Musgrave also struck out a career-high nine batters.

DiBartolomeo, Gum and Griffin all had two hits apiece, with DiBartolomeo and Griffin each driving in two runs.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring in the first inning with Brady Wilson scoring to make the score 1-0 after Grant Buckner singled to left field.

WVU then scored two runs in the bottom of the second to bring the score to 3-0. Justin McDavid tripled to right center and knocked in Wilson, who had a bunt single before advancing to second on a fielding error by the first baseman.

Rider scored one run in the third inning, while also adding two on a two-run double to left from Nick Crescenzo scoring Adam Wayman and John Ralston.

Starting pitcher Patrick Devlin (1-1) took the loss for the Broncs, giving up 10 hits and seven runs in five innings of work. Mason Heyne went 2-for-3 offensively, while Crescenzo finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

[View Category Article List]