By Lindsey Peltier
For The Montgomery Herald
EAST BANK — The WVU Tech Golden Bears swept the visiting Cincinnati Clermont Cougars in a three-game baseball series last weekend at Douglas Epling Stadium. Tech was eager to get back on the diamond after dropping its first three games on the road and having six scheduled games postponed due to weather.
The young Bear squad won 6-2 in the first contest and then pulled out a pair of one-run victories in a doubleheader on Sunday.
In the first contest, Tech’s offense struck first, plating three runs in the first inning while chasing starting pitcher Travis Orr out of the game. With that three-run lead, Tech’s starting pitcher Matt Rodriguez settled in and picked up his first win of the year, going five innings, yielding two runs on five hits, and striking out six.
Rodriguez’ strong start was followed by strong outings by relievers Ryan Kessinger, Tyler Wilson and Jeff Krauklis. The Tech relievers combined to throw four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit.
At the plate, Tech was led by freshman outfielder Zach Harrison, who went 1-for-3 with a double and three runs scored.
On Sunday, junior starting hurler Matt Cockburn provided another strong start for the Bears, pitching five innings and allowing no earned runs on three hits while striking out five.
Tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth frame, Kessinger, a freshman centerfielder, drove in Wilson to give Tech a 3-2 lead. Krauklis then shut down the Cougars in the seventh to earn his second save of the season in support of freshman Ryan Workman, who picked up his first career win.
At the plate, Tech was led by junior Alex Van Horn, who was 2-for-3 with a double and one RBI.
In the Sunday nightcap, Tech found itself behind for the first time all weekend when Clermont jumped on starting pitcher Chris Barnett for three runs in the top of the first. Tech answered in the bottom of the first with RBI singles from Kessinger and Workman to pull to within 3-2.
Barnett then settled down to shut out the Cougars for three innings. At the same time, Tech pushed across runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings en route to a 5-4 win. Krauklis picked up the triumph in relief to cap a one-win, two-save weekend on the mound.
Coach Lawrence Nesselrodt had plenty of positive things to say about the weekend. “Great weekend for Tech baseball,” he said. “All three games were highly contested and it was a great sign to see a young team win close ball games. Jeff Krauklis’ performance was outstanding and some young guys came up with some clutch hits.
“The overall pitching this weekend was outstanding; hopefully it will be a constant for us. Pitching is always ahead of hitting; if we can stay consistent on the mound and keep games close it will give our young hitters the opportunity to develop a rhythm.
“We will continue to be tested; we just started a stretch of playing 17 games in 15 days, giving us plenty of opportunities to develop.”
The Golden Bears (3-3) were to return to East Bank yesterday to take on Bluefield College.
(Peltier is sports information director at WVU Tech.)
