Here is your Big East Recap for May 10th.
West Virginia 18 Cincinnati 3
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Junior Vince Belnome produced the best single-game offensive performance in West Virginia University baseball history as WVU routed Cincinnati, 18-3, on Sunday afternoon at Hawley Field.
Belnome finished the day 6-for-6 with two home runs, nine RBIs and four runs scored. The Coatesville, Pa., native’s six hits are a single-game school record while his nine runs driven in tie both Bill Biddle’s nine RBIs on May 9, 1947, as well as Angelo Onder’s RBI total on May 23, 1936.
The junior now has 77 RBIs in 2009, sitting just five shy of breaking Mark Landers’ 81-RBI season in 1994. Belnome also jumped his batting average by 19 points on the afternoon, carrying a .425 clip heading into Monday’s home finale against Youngstown State.
West Virginia Recap
Cincinnati Recap
St. John’s 19 Louisville 15
QUEENS, N.Y. – The St. John’s baseball team combined to score 15 runs between the sixth and eighth innings en route to a 19-15 victory against Louisville. Gino Matias was 2-for-2 with a home run and five RBI to lead St. John’s (28-18, 15-9). Matt Wessinger added a home run and three RBI, while Jimmy Parque, Paul Karmas and Tim Morris had two RBI apiece. Nate Holland had a grand slam and Ryan Wright added three RBI to pace Louisville (36-14, 16-7).
Louisville took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Adam Duvall singled with one out, but moved to third after a wild pitch and an errant throw to second. Andrew Clark then put Cardinals on the board with an RBI groundout.
Josh Richmond doubled with one out in the second before moving to third on a balk. John Dao then made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly.
St. John’s Recap
Louisville Recap
UConn 8 Pittsburgh 5
STORRS, Conn. – Freshman George Springer recorded two homeruns as the UConn baseball team toppled Pittsburgh 8-5 in its Sunday afternoon BIG EAST Conference battle at J.O. Christian Field.
The Huskies put together a four-run second inning which was led by Springer’s 15th homerun of the season. In the seventh inning, Springer added his 16th four-bagger of the year with a shot over the center field wall. With the two homeruns, Springer moves into a three-way tie for third place on the UConn single-season homeruns list.
UConn (29-22, 12-12 BIG EAST) improves to 34-23 all-time against Pittsburgh (26-18, 11-12 BIG EAST) after today’s victory, while improving its record at J.O. Christian Field to 11-9 on the year.
Seton Hall 14 Rutgers 10
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Trailing, 10-9, in the eighth inning, senior Chris Affinito (East Brunswick, N.J.) hit a grand slam over the center field wall giving reliever Matt Singer (Bayonne, N.J.) and the Pirates all they needed to hang on and defeat their in-state rival Rutgers, 14-10, Sunday afternoon. With the win, the Pirates win the three-game series two-games-to-one and improve their record to 23-22 overall, 12-12 in the BIG EAST.
Sophomore A.J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, N.J.) led off the eighth inning with a double followed by a single through the left side of the infield by junior Michael Rogers (Portland, Ore.). Senior Matt Smedberg (Rockaway, N.J.) loaded the bases for Affinito when he was hit-by-a-pitch. After Affinito hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season to give the Hall a, 13-10, advantage, freshman Will Walsh (New Milford, N.J.) gave the Pirates more insurance with a two-out RBI double in the same inning.
Seton Hall Recap
Rutgers Recap
South Florida 6 Notre Dame 5
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of South Florida baseball team moved one step closer to a regular season BIG EAST Championship by beating Notre Dame, 6-5, on Sunday afternoon.
The Bulls improved to 31-19 on the season and 18-6 in conference play after winning the final game of the series against Notre Dame. The win along with the Louisville loss to St. John’s gives USF a 1.5 game lead over the Cardinals in the BIG EAST standings. Louisville is 16-7 in league play.
USF and Louisville will square off in the final series of the regular season this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Bulls can clinch the regular season championship and a No. 1 seed in the conference tournament by winning one of the three games at Louisville.
South Florida Recap
Notre Dame Recap
Georgetown 4 Villanova 1
Washington, D.C. – On a perfect day for baseball, the Georgetown University baseball team played the perfect game to close their 2009 home schedule. The Hoyas finished the season at Shirley Povich Field in style for the second year in a row, taking a BIG EAST series with a 4-1 win over Villanova this afternoon. Sean Baumann’s (Tampa, Fla./Freedom) two-run double broke a tie in the sixth inning and Will Harris (Winter Park, Fla./Trinity Prep) struck out a career-high six batters while allowing only one run over seven innings to pick up the victory.
Sophomore Pablo Vinent (Miami, Fla./Belen Jesuit) made it back-to-back games where a GU reliever has earned his first career save as he no-hit the Wildcats over the final two innings to seal the win.
Georgetown Recap
Villanova Recap
