Mountaineers open Regional with a win over Fordham.

Morgantown, WV – For the first time since 1955, the West Virginia Mountaineers (38-20) hosted a regional and won their opening game in front of a new Monongalia County Ballpark record crowd of 4,355 over the Fordham Rams (38-23) 6-2 on Friday night.

On the first pitch of the game, Fordham lead-off hitter CJ Vazquez singled back up the middle. The Rams came into the game leading the country in steals (177) and Vazquez tested WVU catcher Ivan Gonzalez’s arm on X second as Gonzalez gunned him down for the first out.

“Before this game, (WVU head coach Randy) Mazey told me that they like to run and that they have two guys that can steal and just took it upon myself.” Said Gonzalez. “It’s just a pride thing where its my job to throw guys out and I was waiting for them to go. Threw it to “Doansie” and he laid the tag on them.”

West Virginia starting pitcher Nick Snyder walked Jake MacKenzie, before Alvin Melendez hit a ground ball through the gap on the left side. Matt Tarabek singled through the gap on the right side that just went by the out-reached glove of second baseman Tyler Doanes glove for an RBI single and the Rams put the first run of the game on the board.

With everything going seemingly wrong, Snyder got out of the inning on a great snare by third baseman Kevin Brophy from a line-drive and Gonzalez pegged another baserunner at second.

“Trusting the stuff.” Stated Sndyer. “Sometimes when you get barreled a little bit as a pitcher you may take your foot off the gas a little bit. I just had to remind myself that I have a great defense behind me, so don’t get wrapped up in the core results, just keep throwing the ball and thankfully we got out of there with just one run.

Fordham starting pitcher John Stankiewicz had command through two and sat six of the seven batters he faced heading into the third, before the Mountaineers started putting pressure on the sophomore.

Tevin Tucker worked a one-out walk, then Tyler Doanes singled into left to get the Mountaineer fans on their feet as Brandon White was walking up to the plate.

White battled at the plate and on a full count, Stankiewicz threw ball four in the dirt that got passed catcher Justin Bardwell as Tucker raced from second base to tie the game. Now with runners at the corners, Darius Hill hit a deep RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield, scoring Doanes, to give WVU a 2-1 lead.

Fans were on their feet and West Virginia had Stankiewicz rattled as he walked three Mountaineers to another run before Fordham head coach Kevin Leighton went to his bullpen for lefthander Matt Mikulski. He got out of the inning with a strikeout.

Snyder settled in tossing five innings and finished his night with six strikeouts and only giving up one hit after the three-hit first inning. Mazey went with Kade Strowd to continue where Snyder left off.

Ivan Gonzalez took first on four-straight balls to start the bottom of the sixth inning for the Mountaineers. Kevin Brophy followed it up with a single into rightfield. Then with two outs, Tyler Doanes flared a double into left-center that just dropped under the glove of diving right fielder Alvin Melendez. Brophy was hustling around third as the throw came into the cutoff man, second baseman CJ Vasquez hesitated, not expecting Brophy to round third, he beat the throw home sliding in safely headfirst to tack on the second run of the inning.

The Mountaineers tacked on another run in the seventh after Paul McIntosh drew a two-out walk and Ivan Gonzalez followed it up doubling into rightfield for his second RBI of the night.

Fordham added a run in the eighth on an error after Strowd began the inning walking two but would get out of the inning limiting the damage.

Strowd picked up the four-inning save, not giving up a hit and retired five to close out the game.

“Great Win.” Boasted Mazey. “That’s a stadium full of energy tonight, from the first pitch to the last. When you have that much energy in the stadium you’re exhausted when its over. I know I’m exhausted. I can’t imagine how these guys feel. That was just what I expected. That was a dog fight.”

West Virginia will take on Duke to advance in the winners bracket of a double elimination regional at 7:00 pm est.