University of Toledo
WEST VIRGINIA
Toledo Falls at West Virginia in Series Opener, 9-2
3/18/2005 12:00:00 PM | Baseball
MORGANTOWN, PA - Toledo dropped a 9-2 decision to West Virginia in non-conference action Friday afternoon at Hawley Field.
The Rockets surrendered 17 hits to the Mountaineers, including six for extra bases.
Casey Bowling (3-for-5, 2 RBI), Lee Fritz (3-for-5, 2 runs scored), Justin Jenkins (3-for-4, 3 runs scored) and Kyle Matuszek (3-for-4, 2 RBI) paced the WVU offensive attack with three hits apiece.
West Virginia's hurlers also did a good job of keeping Toledo off balance and limited the Rockets to only four hits. No UT hitter collected more than one hit in the contest.
Toledo senior RHP J.R. Duffey (1-3) suffered the setback. Duffey scattered seven runs (five earned) on 12 hits with two strikeouts in five innings of work. The co-captain was one of four UT pitchers utilized.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring in the second inning with a RBI single by Doug Nelms and a two-run triple by Bowling to take an early 3-0 lead.
Toledo cut into the lead in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by junior SS Jason Watson. Freshman LF Jake Swint led off the frame with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Freshman CF Drew Hoisington followed with a perfectly executed bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Watson then lifted a fly ball to center field, scoring Swint for his sixth RBI of the season.
The Mountaineers blew the game open with three runs in the bottom half of the third frame on the strength of two Toledo errors to widen the margin to 6-1.
WVU tacked-on an insurance run in the fifth and two more in the seventh to build an eight-run cushion, 9-1.
The Rockets were able to manufacture a run in the eighth on a RBI groundout by junior 1B Travis Pilewski to make the final score, 9-2.
WVU's Wes Osbourn (2-1) was credited with today's victory. Osbourn tossed 6.2 innings of relief, allowing one run on two hits with three strikeouts.
The two teams will compete in a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1:00 p.m.
