At The Ballpark
Shotgun Spratling – June 2, 2024

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Brian O’Connor looked over to third base coach and offensive coordinator Kevin McMullan. He put up three fingers. The Virginia head coach wanted his hitters to have three chances to drive in the winning run after Harrison Didawick led off the bottom of the ninth with a ground rule double that hopped the left-center field fence.

No bunting. No moving a runner up.

Even though the bottom third of the Cavaliers’ lineup was due up, O’Connor wanted them swinging away.

“I believe in these guys that one of these guys was going to drive the run[…]

Tucson, AZ – The West Virginia Mountaineers (34-22) meet the Grand Canyon Antelopes (35-23) Saturday night in the winner’s bracket of the Tucson Regional in the NCAA tournament. The first pitch is set for approximately 10:00 and the action will stream on ESPN+.

Grand Canyon handled the host team Arizona 9-4 in the night cap with Grant Richardson grabbing his fifth win of the season. The sophomore relinquished a 2-0 lead in the second after Arizona put up three runs, but it did not deter the sophomore. He tossed three scoreless innings before allowing another run.

Eddy Pelc was one of four Antelopes to register a pair of hits against the Wildcats but separated himself from his teammates after coming up big in the sixth. The senior recorded three of his team-high four RBIs with a double off the centerfield wall for the game-winning RBI.

Sophomore Isaac Lyon, the first-Team All-WAC as a starting pitcher, picked up his first save of the season, throwing three scoreless innings with four strikeouts.

“People who don’t know a lot about college baseball hear Grand Canyon and they’re like, ‘You should beat those guys.’ It’s not that easy,” said West Virginia University head coach Randy Mazey. “You have to play really well to beat these teams. Everybody is talking about this regional being the toughest one. I literally think all four of these teams are very capable of winning this regional.”

WAC Player of the Year Tyler Wilson leads Grand Canyon at the plate. The senior hit a WAC-leading .405 in conference play, and a league-high.381 for the season and was second in RBIs with 63.

Grand Canyon head coach and WAC Coach of the year Gregg Wallis will hand the ball to freshman Hunter Watkins. The six-foot-eight right-hander had a tumultuous start to the season. In his first three appearances of the season, he allowed eight runs in eight and two third innings of work. Since then, he has had a 2.17 ERA in his last 13 appearances.

West Virginia knocked off Dallas Baptist in the Tucson Regional opener 4-1. Senior Derek Clark tossed his fourth complete game win to collect his eighth victory of the season, while sophomore Logan Clark lifted a three-run in the third to provide Clark the cushion needed to dispatch the Patriots.

Junior JJ Wetherholt leads the team with a .349 batting average with eight home runs, five doubles and 30 RBI. The All-Big 12 first team selection was 0-2 at the plate on Friday but drew a walk and scored a run.

“He creates a presence that makes people pitch differently,” Mazey said. “He makes the offense go whether he gets hits or not.”

Tyler Switalski will take the mound for the Mountaineers. The sophomore holds a 4-2 record with a 5.94 ERA. The sophomore had his best performance in last appearance in the final weekend of the regular season, throwing five shutout innings on the road at TCU with a pair of strikeouts.

This will be the first meeting between the two programs.