Baseball: WVU Welcomes Manhattan

By Grant Dovey for WVUsports.com
March 15, 2012 02:21 PM

Corey Walter

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The West Virginia University baseball team plays host to Manhattan this weekend in a four-game series that begins Friday at 3 p.m. The teams will then play a doubleheader at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and the series finale will begin at noon on Sunday.

WVU is coming off a 2-1 midweek victory over Eastern Michigan at home this past Wednesday. Right-hander Dan Dierdorff pitched 8.2 innings and allowed one run on nine hits with five strikeouts.

Van Zant said that right-hander Corey Walter (1-2) will start on the mound Friday for the Mountaineers. Walter has a 4.84 earned-run average in four starts, allowing 12 earned runs on 27 hits. He also has struck out 10 and walked 11 in 22.1 innings.

Manhattan comes into the series with a 1-11 record, losers of its last 10 games. Last weekend, the Jaspers were swept by High Point and outscored 18-6.

John Soldinger will likely get the call for Manhattan on Friday. Soldinder has a 0-1 record with a 3.60 ERA in three starts. He has struck out 17 and walked 15, while allowing eight earned runs in 20 innings pitched.

As a team, Manhattan is batting .208 with 25 runs, 18 doubles, one triple, one home run and 23 RBIs. They have also stolen 10-of-17 bases.

The Jaspers are led offensively by Nick Camastro, who has a .317 batting average with three runs, two doubles and four RBIs.

WVU and Manhattan first met in 1902 and have a series record of 4-4. The teams last faced off in 2010 with the Jaspers taking two of three games from WVU at Hawley Field.

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