Mountaineers Open 2023 Season at Georgia Southern
LINK: https://wvusports.co/3I9Zfzq
LIVE STATS: https://wvusports.co/413e0gg
WATCH LIVE: https://wvusports.co/3E9zZYP
GAME NOTES: https://wvusports.co/3Edjxqu
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Feb. 16, 2023) – The West Virginia University baseball team opens the 2023 campaign with a three-game set at Georgia Southern, Feb. 17-19, in Statesboro, Ga.
Fans can follow the team all weekend long by watching on ESPN+ and can follow with live stats of all three games at WVUsports.com.
Junior left-hander Ben Hampton (8-5, 4.66 ERA, 90 K in 2022) gets the ball to begin the season for the Mountaineers on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. followed by graduate transfer Blaine Traxel (7-4, 3.00 ERA, 86 K at CSUN in 2022) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. with WVU’s starter still to be announced.
Pitching Probables (2022 Stats)
LHP Ben Hampton (8-5, 4.66 ERA, 90 K) vs. LHP Ty Fisher (6-2, 2.58 ERA, 60 K)
RHP Blaine Traxel (7-4, 3.00 ERA, 86 K at CSUN) vs. RHP Ben Johnson (5-3, 4.15 ERA, 37 K)
TBA vs. RHP Zachary Harris (Freshman)
Including Hampton, WVU returns four All-Big 12 players from a season ago. Redshirt-senior Noah Short (0-1, 4.25 ERA, 33 K in 2022) and sophomore infielder JJ Wetherholt (.308, 5 HR, 39 RBI) were each named honorable mentions while Wetherholt and sophomore pitcher Chris Sleeper (3-4, 3.61 ERA, 28 K) were both named to the All-Freshman Team.
The Mountaineers and Eagles are no strangers to each other having met 25 times previously. Georgia Southern leads the all-time series 17-8 with all but one of those games taking place in Statesboro. Most recently, West Virginia took two of three from GSU in 2019.
Led by 11th-year coach Randy Mazey, the Mountaineers feature 18 returning lettermen and 20 newcomers on the 38-man, 2023 roster. Mazey holds a 296-230 mark during his time at West Virginia, and he has totaled 482 career wins in 16 seasons as a head coach.
Key returning players for the Mountaineers include first baseman Grant Hussey, catcher Dayne Leonard, shortstop Tevin Tucker, outfielder Braden Barry, and pitchers Carlson Reed and Aidan Major. In D1Baseball’s preseason position power rankings, Leonard (#20 Catcher), Wetherholt (#34 second baseman), Hampton (#81 starting pitcher), Major (#144 starting pitcher) and Reed (#148 starting pitcher) all found themselves receiving honors while Hussey led the Mountaineers with 11 home runs last year, Barry hit .289 with 16 stolen bases, and Tucker enters his fourth season as the starting shortstop.
Georgia Southern, led by head coach Rodney Hennon in his 24th year, is coming off one of its best seasons in program history as the Eagles went 41-20 to earn the No. 16 national seed and the right to host a regional.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles defeated UNC Greensboro in the opening game before falling to Notre Dame and Texas Tech. This season, Georgia Southern was selected to finish second in the Sun Belt Preseason poll behind Southern Miss
Redshirt-senior Noah Ledford was named the SBC Preseason Player of the Year. Last season, the DH hit .348 with 17 home runs and 70 RBI. Senior second baseman Jesse Sherrill and junior third baseman Jarrett Brown were also named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
LINK: https://wvusports.co/3I9Zfzq
LIVE STATS: https://wvusports.co/413e0gg
WATCH LIVE: https://wvusports.co/3E9zZYP
GAME NOTES: https://wvusports.co/3Edjxqu
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Feb. 16, 2023) – The West Virginia University baseball team opens the 2023 campaign with a three-game set at Georgia Southern, Feb. 17-19, in Statesboro, Ga.
Fans can follow the team all weekend long by watching on ESPN+ and can follow with live stats of all three games at WVUsports.com.
Junior left-hander Ben Hampton (8-5, 4.66 ERA, 90 K in 2022) gets the ball to begin the season for the Mountaineers on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. followed by graduate transfer Blaine Traxel (7-4, 3.00 ERA, 86 K at CSUN in 2022) on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Sunday’s game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. with WVU’s starter still to be announced.
Pitching Probables (2022 Stats)
LHP Ben Hampton (8-5, 4.66 ERA, 90 K) vs. LHP Ty Fisher (6-2, 2.58 ERA, 60 K)
RHP Blaine Traxel (7-4, 3.00 ERA, 86 K at CSUN) vs. RHP Ben Johnson (5-3, 4.15 ERA, 37 K)
TBA vs. RHP Zachary Harris (Freshman)
Including Hampton, WVU returns four All-Big 12 players from a season ago. Redshirt-senior Noah Short (0-1, 4.25 ERA, 33 K in 2022) and sophomore infielder JJ Wetherholt (.308, 5 HR, 39 RBI) were each named honorable mentions while Wetherholt and sophomore pitcher Chris Sleeper (3-4, 3.61 ERA, 28 K) were both named to the All-Freshman Team.
The Mountaineers and Eagles are no strangers to each other having met 25 times previously. Georgia Southern leads the all-time series 17-8 with all but one of those games taking place in Statesboro. Most recently, West Virginia took two of three from GSU in 2019.
Led by 11th-year coach Randy Mazey, the Mountaineers feature 18 returning lettermen and 20 newcomers on the 38-man, 2023 roster. Mazey holds a 296-230 mark during his time at West Virginia, and he has totaled 482 career wins in 16 seasons as a head coach.
Key returning players for the Mountaineers include first baseman Grant Hussey, catcher Dayne Leonard, shortstop Tevin Tucker, outfielder Braden Barry, and pitchers Carlson Reed and Aidan Major. In D1Baseball’s preseason position power rankings, Leonard (#20 Catcher), Wetherholt (#34 second baseman), Hampton (#81 starting pitcher), Major (#144 starting pitcher) and Reed (#148 starting pitcher) all found themselves receiving honors while Hussey led the Mountaineers with 11 home runs last year, Barry hit .289 with 16 stolen bases, and Tucker enters his fourth season as the starting shortstop.
Georgia Southern, led by head coach Rodney Hennon in his 24th year, is coming off one of its best seasons in program history as the Eagles went 41-20 to earn the No. 16 national seed and the right to host a regional.
In the NCAA Tournament, the Eagles defeated UNC Greensboro in the opening game before falling to Notre Dame and Texas Tech. This season, Georgia Southern was selected to finish second in the Sun Belt Preseason poll behind Southern Miss
Redshirt-senior Noah Ledford was named the SBC Preseason Player of the Year. Last season, the DH hit .348 with 17 home runs and 70 RBI. Senior second baseman Jesse Sherrill and junior third baseman Jarrett Brown were also named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt Team.
