On Feb. 28, the 4-4 West Virginia Mountaineers are set to play their 2024 season at Monongalia County Ballpark on February 28th against the 2-2 Canisius Golden Griffins. Both the Mountaineers and the Golden Griffins have had their ups and downs to begin the season. Both teams stand at .500, and are looking to go above with this upcoming game.
The West Virginia Mountaineers have started their year off not as spectacular as fans expected. The mountaineers currently sit at 4-4, but the mountaineers are yet to play a home game, or series this season.
The Mountaineers star infielder JJ Wetherholt has been out due to a hamstring sprain he obtained in the final game of the Stetson series. Wetherholt was awarded numerous preseason honors, and he was backing up all the hype to begin the season, batting .308, with 5 runs and the same amount of total bases.
Now with JJ out players such as Grant Hussey, who also earned Big 12 honorable mentions will need to step up for the Mountaineers. One player who has stepped up in the hitting department is catcher Logan Sauve. The sophomore is batting .384, with an OPS of 1.105. Sauve leads the Neers in hits, RBIs, and is tied for first in homeruns.
Pitchers for the mountaineers have been inconsistent to start the year, but the starters are starting to get in a groove. The pitching group is led by starter Aiden Major who was ranked the 102nd starting pitcher in all of D-1. Majors leads the Mountaineers in innings pitched (11.0), strikeouts (16), and WHIP (1.18). Starter Carson Estridge has been solid as well, leading the team in ERA (3.00) with 9.0 innings pitched.
The pen for West Virginia had it rough to end the Charlotte series, but reliever Hambleton Oliver has been great posting a 3.24 ERA, a 1.20 WHIP, and allowing only a .200 average to opposing batters.
The Canisius Golden Griffins are led by Preseason All-MAAC conference outfielder Jackson Strong. Strong is a junior who is batting .294, with an OPS of .871. Strong is one of 3 Golden Griffins to hit a homerun this season, one of those players being Junior infielder Trent Rumley.
Rumley is tied for first on the team in batting average with a .333, has recorded a 1.044 OPS in 4 games, and leads the team in RBIs (5), and slugging percentage (.600).
Pitching for the Golden Griffins like the Mountaineers has been looking to improve. Due to cancellations Canisius has only started 3 pitchers. Sophomore Felix Morin seems to be their best starting pitcher in the young season. The lefty has pitched 5 innings, with 1 earned run in 4 hits allowed. Morin has recorded a 1.80 ERA, with a WHIP of .80.
In their pen the Golden Griffins seem to have a strikeout machine in lefty grad student Tom Peltier. Peltier, who was on the all-MAAC tournament team last season has recorded 17 strikeouts in 8 innings pitched.
The name of the game in this one will have to be pitching for both teams, as getting on base is a usual occurrence for both squads. The Golden Griffins have recorded 43 total bases in 4 games which is an incredible number in their young season.
WVU’s pitching has given up more hits and runs then they’ve probably liked so they will be looking to keep Canisius in check. For the Golden Griffins they have 4 pitchers with an ERA over 9, but with not many innings pitched. Both teams pens will be looking to have great performances in this one on.
With the broadcast starting at 2:30, Aaron Parker will be on play-by-play accompanied by Nico Caretto on color. Gabe Schon and Conor Bratchford will be back in the studio doing pregame and postgame. You can catch the broadcast on 91.7 FM, radio FX, or on u92themoose.com
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics