The WVU baseball team won’t take the diamond at Monongalia County Ballpark until March 14, but the Mountaineers are already in the spring-swing of things.
The Mountaineers enter the 2017 campaign with high expectations after finishing 36-22 last season and pulling in the best recruiting class in program history, ranking 30th in the country according to Perfect Game.
Sophomore Darius Hill returns after a stellar All-American freshman season where he posted a .342 batting average, ranking him 9th in the Big 12. Kyle Davis is back too, arguably the most clutch performer on the team, and batted-in 4 game winning runs last season while being named to the Big 12 second-team.
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The Mountaineers brought in a top 15 recruit from New Jersey and the 103rd overall shortstop in Kevin Brophy. With tremendous size for a shortstop, he stands at a towering 6’3″. As a senior in high school, Brophy batted .579 and had 18 RBI’s while cranking six home runs! Hopefully that production will translate to the college game.
Frankie Vesuvio is another pitching prospect the Mountaineers are excited about. Not only can he dominate on the mound, he’s a solid batter as well; he posted a .358 batting average with seven home runs his senior season. His ERA was a staggering 1.58 with a hefty number of strikeouts, just under 90 with 70 innings pitched.
With a long road stretch ahead, they’ll eventually bring their bats to Morgantown for their first home game on March 14th against Morehead State. Then the ‘Eers head to the Lone Star state for games against Baylor and Texas.