The West Virginia baseball team was able to pull off a 7-5 win over Bryant Thursday night in its home opener at Hawley Field.
Heading into the top of the eighth inning, the Mountaineers (4-7) were leading 5-3, but after a hit batter and a single, the Bulldogs’ left fielder Connor Carignan singled to center, driving in Kevin Brown and Jordan English to tie the game up heading into the West Virginia half of the inning.
West Virginia’s Mark Dvoroznak got things started by getting on base and eventually advancing to third after an error and sacrifice bunt.
Grant Buckner then hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in the go ahead run.
"I just wanted to drive the ball anywhere," Buckner said. "I was able to get it out into the outfield, and I knew that it would be enough to get Mark (Dvoroznak) in there."
Then as insurance, a Matt Frazer groundout brought in Jedd Gyorko to make the score 7-5.
Picking up the win in the victory was senior Andy Altemus, who is now 1-2 on the season.
The Morgantown native threw five innings in relief after starter Jonathan Jones was pulled. Jones gave up five hits while walking just two and striking out three.
"(Andy) did a great job," said West Virginia head coach Greg Van Zant. "If he doesn’t come in there and pound the zone, we don’t win."
For the final out of the game, Van Zant brought in another senior, Chris Enourato, to finish up the win.
Enourato, who already holds the school record in saves, notched the 19th of his career and with this appearance, tied the school record for seeing action in 58 games in his four seasons with the Mountaineers.
"Chris’ competitiveness is second to none," Van Zant said. "There was no doubt I was going to bring him in to get that last out. He was coming off of his longest outing of the year (seven innings on Sunday), and that’s why we didn’t bring him in with six outs to go or even to start the ninth."
The Mountaineers had another solid game at the plate on Thursday, tallying nine hits against the three Bulldog pitchers.
"They made our guys play, and that may have been the best we’ve done all year against some good pitchers," Van Zant said. "We had a sense of urgency about us that we didn’t have the first weekend of the season."
Leading the way for West Virginia was first baseman Justin McDavid, who went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI. Frazer extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a leadoff single in the seventh.
Hayes finished the game 3-for-4, and Dvoroznak went 2-for-2 and scored two runs.
The Mountaineers continue their current home stand today against Manhattan.
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