The WVU baseball team plays its only true road game in the month of April when it travels to Charleston for a matchup against in-state foe Marshall at 6:30 p.m. April 24, at Appalachian Power Park.
The game is hosted by Marshall and tickets are available at herdzone.com.
WVU and Marshall meet for the 70th time on Tuesday, and the Mountaineers lead the all-time series 45-24. The Mountaineers won four in a row in the series, six of the last seven and 15 of the last 18.
The Mountaineers (19-17) have won eight of its last 11 games. WVU is ranked No. 32 in the NCAA RPI and has the No. 5 strength of schedule in the nation, according to warrennolen.com.
The Mountaineers rank among the NCAA and Big 12 leaders in several statistical categories. WVU is second in the Big 12 and No. 21 nationally with 66 stolen bases, while WVU is third in the league and No. 16 nationally with 39 double plays turned. The Mountaineers also are No. 3 in the Big 12 with 13 triples and are fourth with 32 home runs.
Individually, Braden Zarbnisky ranks No. 7 nationally with 1.03 walks per game, while he is No. 14 in the NCAA with 0.60 stolen bases per game. Darius Hill leads the Big 12 and is No. 8 in the country with an average of 19.4 at-bats per strikeout, while he is second in the conference with 0.41 doubles per game, just behind teammate Marques Inman, who leads the league with a 0.42 average.
The Thundering Herd (17-20) were swept by Louisiana Tech last weekend. The game marks the fourth-consecutive year that M.U. has hosted WVU at Power Park, in Charleston.
Men’s soccer
The Mountaineers play their lone road match of the spring season April 24, at the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the United Soccer League (USL).
Kickoff at Highmark Stadium, in Pittsburgh, is set for 7:45 p.m. Admission is free.
The Riverhounds are 2-0-3 in USL action after a 2-2 draw at FC Cincinnati on Saturday. In preseason play, Pittsburgh played seven college clubs, going 6-1.
The exhibition match is the fourth of five contests this spring for the Mountaineers.
The spring slate concludes with the annual Alumni Match at 7 p.m. April 27, at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium, and admission is free.
Track and field
Following a record-setting performance in the women’s pole vault last weekend, redshirt-junior Madelin Gardner was named the WVU Student-Athlete of the Week.
Gardner earned a mark of 4.41 meters (14 feet, 5.50 inches) in a second-place finish in the women’s pole vault invitational April 20, at the Virginia Challenge, in Charlottesville, Va. The jump smashed her previous WVU-best mark of 4.13 meters, which she set in 2017. The Williamstown native cleared marks of 4.21, 4.31 and 4.41 meters, breaking the outdoor school record three times.
The jump also topped the former meet and facility records for the event, and it ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference this season.
Gardner and the Mountaineers return to Virginia this weekend to compete in the Virginia Grand Prix on April 28, in Charlottesville.
