Alex Wilson, a former standout at Hurricane High School and current relief pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, was named to the United States roster for the World Baseball Classic on Wednesday.
Wilson, the first-team captain of the Class AAA all-state team in 2005, his senior year, went 4-0 for the Tigers a year ago with a 2.96 ERA in 73 innings while striking out 49 and walking 21. He made his major league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 2013.
Wilson joins a roster that includes some of the best players in the game, including Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt, Miami's Giancarlo Stanton, San Francisco's Buster Posey and Cleveland's Andrew Miller.
The World Baseball Classic gets underway March 6, with the United States' first game scheduled for March 10 against Colombia at Marlins Park in Miami.
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UC MEN'S BASKETBALL: The University of Charleston used a big second half and a decisive advantage at the free-throw line to earn a 73-64 road victory over West Virginia Wesleyan in the Mountain East Conference in Buckhannon.
UC (14-9 overall, 8-9 MEC) trailed by two at halftime but outscored the Bobcats 44-33 in the second half and was 17 for 26 from the foul line as opposed to 5 for 9 for Wesleyan.
The Golden Eagles won for the second straight game without leading scorer Elliott Cole. Keir Anderson led the way with 19 points and Justin Coleman had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Mo Berchie had 16 points for Wesleyan (11-12, 8-9).
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UC WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: The University of Charleston held West Virginia Wesleyan to just 26-percent shooting in a 56-43 MEC victory in Buckhannon.
UC (8-14 overall, 7-9 MEC) held the Bobcats to just four first-quarter points and six in the fourth quarter.
Jordyn Peck led the Golden Eagles with 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting and 3 of 5 from 3-point range and Octavia Loll tallied 10 points off the bench. Tara Goldman was the lone double-figure scorer for Wesleyan (6-13, 6-10) with 15 points.
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WVSU MEN'S BASKETBALL: West Virginia State dropped a tight game to visiting Glenville State, losing 84-78 as the Pioneers had four double-digit scorers, led by Terry Davis with 23 points.
Brett Morris added a double-double for the Pioneers (9-12, 6-11 MEC) with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jalon Plummer scored 21 points and Darhius Nunn 16.
For the Yellow Jackets (6-17, 3-14), Ernest Jenkins led the way with 26 points, followed by Terrance Jenkins' double-double of 14 points and 11 boards. Sable Cooper added 13 points.
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WVSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: West Virginia State fell to Glenville State 96-78 as the Pioneers pulled away in the fourth quarter at Institute.
Paris McLeod hit for 25 points for the Pioneers, followed by Tayan Stewart with 16, Erika Toney with 10 and Kaelynn Wilson with 10. Courtney Davis had 14 rebounds for Glenville.
Shealyn Shafer led the Yellow Jackets (11-12, 9-8) with a double-double of 21 points and 11 boards. Sydney Bates added 11 points for the Jackets.
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MEC SOFTBALL: The University of Charleston women's softball team, which made its first trip to the Division II Women's College World Series last season, was picked Thursday to finish second in the Mountain East Conference's South Division in a preseason poll of conference coaches.
West Virginia Wesleyan, which beat Charleston for the MEC tournament crown but lost to the Golden Eagles in the NCAA Super Regionals, was picked to win the South. The Bobcats earned nine first-place votes to Charleston's three.
West Virginia State was predicted to finish fifth in the six-team South with 32 points. Shepherd was picked to win the MEC North Division, with Wheeling Jesuit picked to finish second.
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COSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT BASKETBALL: Men's basketball players from both West Virginia and Marshall universities earned Academic All-District II first-team honors Thursday from CoSIDA.
WVU's Jevon Carter and Marshall's Austin Loop joined a first team that also included Joe Sherburne of the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Cameron Johnson of Pitt and Steven Cook of Princeton.
A sport management major with a 3.4 grade-point average, Carter has started all 24 games for the Mountaineers this season. He is averaging 11.5 points, 4.4 assists and 4.2 rebounds. Carter leads the Big 12 in steals with 70 on the season.
Loop is a double-major in biomechanics and exercise science, owns a 3.69 GPA and is a four-time member of the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll. On the court, he is the Thundering Herd's all-time 3-point record holder with 262 made in his career. He also is tied at No. 7 for C-USA's made 3-pointers. This season, Loop leads the league with 81 3-pointers (No. 12 in the nation), is No. 9 in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage (46.3), No. 13 in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (3.38) and is 10 points away from scoring 1,000 career points.
Both players now are eligible for Academic All-America honors.
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WVU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: Mountaineer supporters Byron and Susan Witt contributed a major gift of $150,000 to the women's basketball program to renovate the locker room inside the WVU Coliseum.
The donation is in addition to another $100,000 the Witts gave to the WVU program in 2014 for upgrades in the women's basketball practice facility and WVU Coliseum.
Renovations will take place in the near future and the locker room will be called the Byron and Susan Witt Locker Room.
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WVU FOOTBALL: Redshirt senior safety Jarrod Harper received the Curtis Jones Jr. Achievement Award for 2016. Named after the late WVU associate athletic director Curtis Jones Jr., the award is presented annually to the Mountaineer football player who demonstrates excellence in athletics, academics and community service.
A native of Frostburg, Maryland, Harper appeared in 51 career games and started 22 of those over the past two years. He finished with 130 total tackles, including 98 solo stops, one sack, seven tackles for loss, five pass breakups, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in criminology in May 2016 and is pursuing a second bachelor's degree in multidisciplinary studies. In the community, Harper and teammates visited the WVU Medicine Children's Hospital on a regular basis to help refurbish a playground. He also helped deliver food for an area homeless shelter.