Weekend Starting Pitching Rotation is off to a Hot Start

West Virginia's top three starting pitchers are keeping runs off the board

Christopher Hall - Sports Illustrated: Mountaineer Maven

The West Virginia baseball team’s starting pitching staff has impressed on the year after posting a 1.10 ERA through eight starts so far.

Along with only serving up a 1.10 ERA through eight starts, the Mountaineer pitching squad has only given up five or more runs in two games this season, one of those games in which West Virginia came out on top over Canisius on Feb. 18, 15-8.

All of the Mountaineer weekend starting pitchers this year have posted at least one win which includes left-handers Jackson Wolf and Jake Carr along with right-hander Ryan Bergert.

The lone freshman in this year’s starting pitching staff is Carr who has impressed in Morgantown so far after posting a 2.08 ERA through 13 innings of work.

Carr’s best outing so far came against Jacksonville on Feb. 16 when the left-hander held the Dolphins to one earned run on three hits through five innings of work.

Wolf is coming off a stellar sophomore campaign in which he found his spot on the Mountaineer starting pitching staff where he posted a 2-4 record and a 5.17 ERA. The southpaw also struck out 50 batters through 69.2 innings pitched.

Currently, the junior pitcher has shown steady improvement in back to back outings of seven innings of work in which batters have combined for seven hits and only one earned run between the two appearances.

“He (Wolf) was good from the first pitch to the last… every time there was just a little bit of adversity with him tonight, he answered right away which is super encouraging out of Jackson,” explained WVU head coach Randy Mazey following the win over Jacksonville State.

The Canton, Ohio native, Bergert, has given up a run in each of his two starts this season versus Jacksonville on Feb. 15 and Saint Joseph’s on Feb. 22.

"Ryan Bergert needs to be a workhorse for us, he had a great summer and pitched really well for us at the end of last season, so hopefully he's going to be a guy who every time out can give you seven-plus innings," said Mazey prior to the season. 

The right-hander is coming off a freshman year in which he threw for 34 innings through 17 appearances while earning an ERA of 1.85 as well as a 2-0 record.

The Mountaineer weekend starting pitching staff seems to be set for the rest of the year with the trio of pitchers aiding West Virginia in the field with a variety of experience.