Jimmy Galusky comes through in clutch

Jimmy Galusky had many memorable moments as a high school athletic star at Preston High School.

In the big world of college sports, Galusky has already made his mark. Galusky, a freshman on the West Virginia baseball team, had a walk off single against Old Dominion on Saturday night in Morgantown.

This weekend, the Mountaineers took 2 of 3 games from Old Dominion for the first home weekend at Monongalia County Ballpark this season. Both game in a doubleheader on Saturday went to extra innings. OD won the first in 11 innings, 5-4, and thanks to Galusky’s two RBIs in the 12th inning, the Mountaineers earned a 6-5 victory.

"“Jimmy Galusky continues to impress with the way he’s playing,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “I’m super proud of our guys. Jimmy hit the leadoff triple to tie it in the bottom of the ninth, and then Kyle Davis scored him with the sacrifice fly. That’s four times for Jimmy to get a big hit late in the game. That’s what you can’t teach, that’s just what you’ve got inside your chest. He’s got what it takes to be a championship-type player.”"

It sure looks like Mazey and the Mountaineers can build their program around a kid from the small town of Arthurdale, W.Va. In high school, Galusky was a three-sport standout (yes, hunting is a sport) and actually dazzled on the basketball court before really making a name for himself in baseball.

He averaged 25 points per game as a senior for the Preston Knights and polished off a four-year varsity career averaging 20 points per game. Galusky was also named to the all-state team in West Virginia’s highly competitive and talented Class AAA.

Galusky came to WVU as a shortstop and has started all 13 games in the infield so far this season.

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Before his 12th inning heroics, Galusky was also the go-to guy in the bottom of the ninth when the Mountaineers were trailing Old Dominion. He tripled to lead off the ninth inning and came around to score the tying run.

Adjusting from high school to college is hard enough for any teenager, but Galusky seems to have that all down pat. It’s even harder for an athlete to make that big jump.

So far, that doesn’t seem to be a problem for Galusky. He is batting .313 with six RBI and a home run, so far, on the young season. In the field, he has already tabulated a .913 fielding percentage.

Everything Galusky has done up to this point has been impressive. Saturday night’s win was just the icing on the cake that is still being baked.

“That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” Galusky said. “It was incredible.”

Best part about this is, Galusky still has this whole season to dazzle some more. Even better than that, he’s got three years ahead of him as well.

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