The West Virginia University baseball team will host Charleston Southern from March 27-29, at CONSOL Energy Ballpark in Washington, Pennsylvania.

 

Friday’s opener will begin at Noon, Saturday’s game is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday’s finale will be at Noon.

 

The entire series will feature a free video stream, courtesy of Coca-Cola. The games can be heard throughout the state on affiliates of the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG with Jeff Culhane and Ernie Galusky on the call. Friday and Saturday’s games will be aired locally on the flagship station WRLF 94.3 FM and all three games will air on flagship station WMMN 920 AM.

 

Additionally, fans can listen to the broadcast via the WVU Gameday App on their mobile device, as well as the TuneIn Radio App. WVUsports.com also will carry free live audio via the LeanStream Player at WVUsports.com/audio. 

 

West Virginia (12-10) most recently completed a five-game road trip in Texas, winning the final three games over Baylor, Stephen F. Austin and UT Arlington. In their last three games, the Mountaineers hit .308 with four doubles, four home runs and 26 RBIs.

 

“At some point during the season you want to get on a roll and win a lot of games in a row,” coach Randy Mazey said. “We’ve won three in a row now and hopefully we can continue that if we keep swinging the bats the way we are and get some quality pitching from guys.”

 

As a team, WVU has raised its batting average to .280 with 43 doubles, three triples, 25 home runs and 24 stolen bases. Freshman second baseman Kyle Davis paces the team with a .363 batting average and eight doubles, while adding two homers and 15 RBIs.

 

Senior shortstop Taylor Munden is hitting .337 with six doubles, and leads the team with seven home runs, while driving in 16 runs. Senior left fielder Brad Johnson and sophomore right fielder Shaun Wood are tied for the team lead with 18 RBIs apiece.

 

Mazey will utilize a pitching rotation of freshman right-hander Conner Dotson (0-2, 3.05 ERA) on Friday, junior left-hander Ross Vance (2-2, 3.96 ERA) on Friday and sophomore right-hander Chad Donato (3-3, 1.85 ERA) on Sunday.

 

Last Sunday in a win at Baylor, Donato went eight innings, allowing two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and no walks. He is ranked No. 4 nationally in strikeout-to-walk ration (23.00) and is No. 3 in walks allowed per nine innings (0.23).

 

The series will serve as a reunion for Mazey, who earned his first head coaching opportunity at Charleston Southern, accepting the position at the age of 27 in 1994. After going 36-60 in his first two seasons, he led a CSU team, picked to finish last in the 1996 preseason coaches’ poll, to an NCAA Regional appearance, the Buccaneers first-ever bid, and a 30-24-1 mark, the team’s first winning season since 1988 and its second 30-win season in school history.

 

“Their head coach is a good friend of mine, he played for me at Charleston Southern,” Mazey said. “That was my first head coaching job and I’m really excited to play them. It’s going to be a pretty neat experience.”

 

Charleston Southern coach Stuart Lake will counter with junior left-hander Andrew Tomasovich (4-1, 2.13 ERA), junior right-hander Evan Raynor (2-1, 2.67 ERA) and senior right-hander Kyle McDorman (1-2, 2.18 ERA).

 

As a team the Buccaneers are hitting .294 with 44 doubles, one triple and eight home runs, while the pitching staff has posted a 5.37 ERA, striking out 238 batters in 213.0 innings.

 

“Their No. 1 guy (Tomasovich) is as good as anyone we’ll see,” Mazey said. “They’ve got a great team batting average and they’re going to put pressure on us. Just like any game in college baseball, if you don’t play well you’re going to get beat and this is no exception.”

 

Junior infielder Cole Murphy leads Charleston Southern at the plate, batting .358 with seven doubles and 13 RBIs, while senior catcher Andrew Widell is hitting .355 and leads the team in doubles (9), home runs (3) and RBIs (19).

 

West Virginia is 6-4 all-time against Charleston Southern, but the teams have not played since 1977.