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Rifle Earns 10th Straight GARC Title

Baseball takes 2 of 3 at Georgia Southern

MORGANTOWN — While Saturday proved to be a tough day for the Mountaineers on the basketball court, West Virginia had plenty of success with its rifle and baseball teams.

First up was Jon Hammonds and his No. 4 ranked rifle squad as it swept both the individual and team titles at the Great American Rifle Conference championships shot inside the University of Akron’s Stile Athletics Field House in Akron, Ohio.

Saturday’s victory marked the 10th consecutive time the Mountaineers have brought the championship trophy back to Morgantown.

Making the weekend even sweeter were the individual victories by Morgan Phillips (smallbore) and Ginny Thrasher (air rifle).

“We’re happy with the overall results,” Hammond said. “It probably wasn’t our strongest air rifle showing, but that’s OK because we now know where we can improve as we continue to prepare for the NCAA Championships.”

A championship which will be held at WVU for the first time in the school’s history. In fact it will be the first time the Mountaineers have played host to a national championship event.

“For me, it’s really special to host the NCAAs as a senior and it’s the first time in history that WVU has been able to do this,” Thrasher, who took home her fifth individual GARC title in the air rifle, said. “I think it is really just great. To have the opportunity to shoot it and know that with the fan base we have that they will come out and support us.

“I’ve always felt that the Morgantown and WVU community has been so supportive of the rifle team. And, me in particular and to have it culminate with the NCAA championship, as a senior, is really meaningful and special and it is something that I am going to remember for the rest of my life.”

West Virginia’s combined score of 4715 was more than enough to outdistance runner-up Nebraska (4666) while No 2 Kentucky placed third with a total of 4663. The host Zips finished fourth with a 4655 mark while No. 6 Navy closed out the top five with 4652.

Rounding out the team scores was Ole Miss (4648), No. 8 Army (4647), Memphis (4643) and N.C. State (4622).

Thrasher walked away with her third straight air rifle title with a 249.4 score, finishing ahead of fellow Mountaineers Milica Babic (248.3), Verena Zaisberger (225.9) and Phillips (205.3).

Phillips got things going on Friday with a .01 victory over Thrasher in the smallbore competition.

On the diamond West Virginia came up short of a weekend sweep over host Georgia Southern, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Eagles in Saturday’s second game of a doubleheader.

Head coach Randy Mazey’s squad (4-3) opened the weekend with a 3-1 triumph thanks to a stellar pitching performance from Alek Manoah and followed that up with a 5-1 win in Saturday’s first game as left-hander Jackson Wolf and reliever Beau Lowery combined to limit the Eagles to one run on five hits.

Junior right-hander Kade Strowd toed the mound for the nightcap but got no help from WVU’s hitters Georgia Southern took a 1-0 win.

“That’s seven games for the Mountaineers now and seven quality starts out of the starting pitching, which you didn’t see much out of last year,” Mazey said. “So, I’m super encouraged by the way we’re pitching it.”

For the second week in a row the Mountaineers have added a game to their schedule as they will play host to Towson at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Monongalia County Ballpark.

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