GRANVILLE — It is normally not difficult to spot WVU pitcher Christian Young in a crowd.
Standing 6-foot-5, according to WVU’s roster — “I’m 6-6,” he said — will do that for you.
Yet, in what may prove to be a crucial 9-5 victory May 1 by the Mountaineers against Maryland, in front of 1,663 fans inside Monongalia County Ballpark, Young’s performance became increasingly difficult to appreciate.
Told Sunday he was going to start his second game of the season after mostly short relief appearances this season, Young admitted he began to run a picture through his mind over two days on how this game was going to go.
“It was a good picture,” he said.
An even better performance through five innings. The former junior-college first-team all-American allowed just two hits and no runs in helping the Mountaineers (23-19) take an early 8-0 lead.
“He attacked the strike zone, which is exactly what he needed to do,” WVU head coach Randy Mazey said. “He went five strong. He could have gone more, but he was throwing so well that we wanted to maybe save him some for the weekend.”
That hasn’t always been the case for Young this season, as his 5.52 ERA will attest.
“It’s been two very different scales I’ve played with,” Young said. “When I came in here, I figured I would be a starter, but as this season has gone on, I’ve had to adjust to coming out of the bullpen. It felt good to come back out and start a game.”
He was a master of changing speeds, mixing in fastballs at 85 mph with offspeed pitches bottoming out at 67 — all of them coming from a higher angle than batters are used to, which is becoming the trend in baseball, as pitchers start to look more like power forwards.
“I actually tried basketball my senior year in high school,” Young said. “It wasn’t for me.”
“He has a really quick arm for his size,” Mazey added. “He has the ability to pitch downhill. If he pitches on the knees, that’s a pretty tough fastball to hit.”
The win keeps WVU in a position to make some kind of late run at the NCAA tournament. The Mountaineers have won seven of their last nine, but their remaining games against Big 12 teams will ultimately decide their fate.
The Mountaineers travel to Kansas for a three-game series that begins Friday.
As for this game, it was a victory against a team WVU defeated twice in the NCAA tourney last season.
It became sketchy after Young was summoned to the bench.
WVU’s bullpen allowed all five of the Terrapins’ (19-25) runs during the sixth inning.
Taylor Wright hit a double with the bases loaded that scored three and later scored on a wild pitch and a throwing error.
WVU relief pitchers Nick Snyder, Dillon Meadows, Shane Ennis and Tristen Hudson combined to allow five runs on three hits and six walks.
WVU also committed two errors, all of it nearly overshadowing Young’s outing.
Offensively, Marques Inman and Tyler Doanes each drove in two runs and Jimmy Galusky hit a deep solo home run in the eighth, his sixth of the season.
Kyle Gray had a double and a single to extend his hitting streak to 19 games.
