Baseball

WVU’s Zarbnisky wins top district recognition

MORGANTOWN — WVU sophomore designated hitter/right-handed pitcher Braden Zarbnisky was named the District II Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), the organization announced.

Zarbnisky is the second Mountaineer in program history to earn the honor (Jedd Gyorko, 2009 and 2010). Zarbnisky, one of eight District players of the year, is the only player from the Big 12 to be honored.

As a key component of a WVU team that earned an NCAA tournament berth for the first time since 1996, Zarbnisky also was named to the all-Big 12 first team and the Big 12 all-tourney team.

He led WVU with six wins and six saves on the mound, and paced the team with a .336 batting average and a .417 on-base percentage.

WVU won 36 games and reached the NCAA regional final for the third time in team history this season.