The Times West Virginian

WVU Sports

June 19, 2009

Streich, Belnome sign pro contracts

MORGANTOWN — And now the journey begins for West Virginia University baseball players Tobias Streich and Vince Belnome.

Both drafted last week in Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft, they signed their professional contracts and are off to begin their careers in the minor leagues.

Streich, a catcher, was picked in the fifth round of the draft by the Minnesota Twins and will begin his career with the Elizabethton (Tenn.) Twins in the Appalachian League, which opens its season on June 22.

He is currently taking part in workouts at the Twins’ spring training headquarters in Fort Myers, Fla.

Streich was the 2009 All-Big East first team catcher and is the highest WVU draft pick since pitcher Chris Enochs was selected 11th overall by the Oakland A’s in the 1997 draft.

Streich hit .322 with six home runs and 57 RBI and threw out nearly 40 percent of the runners who tried to steal against him during his two-year collegiate career.

Belnome was selected in the 28th round by the San Diego Padres and will play for the Class A short-season Eugene (Ore.) Emeralds of the Northwest League. Belnome will be used at either second or third base when the season begins on June 20.

Belnome capped a two-time All-Big East career by breaking WVU’s single season RBI total with 84 this past year. He was also the 12th player in school history to collect 200 career base hits.

He finished his career with a .388 average with 14 home runs and 174 RBI, tying former Mountaineer Stan Posluszny for second place on the school’s career RBI list.

This past season Belnome hit .418 with nine homers.

“We’re extremely proud of Tobias and Vince,” WVU coach Greg Van Zant said. “They both did a tremendous job for us and helped us win a lot of games. They represented our program well both on the field and in the classroom and we wish them the very best.”



o o o o o o



Led by first-team selections Jarryd Summers and Dan DiBartolomeo, six West Virginia university baseball players were named the American Baseball Coaches Association’s All-East teams.

Summers, a left-handed pitcher, and DiBartolomeo, a third baseman, were named to the first team while pitcher Bill Gross, second baseman/designated hitter Vince Belnome, shortstop Jedd Gyorko and outfielder Austin Markel were named to the second team.

Summers went 7-3 with a 3.06 ERA for the Mountaineers while DiBartolomeo was one of the nation’s most improved hitters as a sophomore, batting .439 after hitting .275 as a freshman. The .439 batting average set a school record while DiBartolomeo added eight home runs and 59 RBI.

Text Only
WVU Sports
  • WVU, Big East reach agreement

    West Virginia University and the Big East have reached a conditional agreement that will allow the Mountaineers to join the Big 12 on July 1 and play football there next season, the Charleston Daily Mail reported Thursday night, citing an unidentified source.

    February 10, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN: This WVU team different from previous squads

    Games may be won or lost under glaring lights of a college arena, filled with faithful fans and the prying eye of the ever-present, unblinking television camera, but teams are built in a far different way.
    They come together in a gym that smells of sweat and yesterday’s hotdogs.

    February 10, 2012

  • Notre Dame stops WVU, 55-51

    If Kevin Jones could have scored 20 points against Notre Dame on Wednesday night before a disappointing crowd of 9,258 in the Coliseum he would have joined Jerry West and Hot Rod Hundley in the West Virginia record books.

    February 9, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN: It’s unfair to consider Truck villain

    The zero next to Truck Bryant’s name stood out like an obscene gesture during a Super Bowl halftime show.
    Some even said he was M.I.A. as West Virginia University lost a heartbreaker, if not a season-breaker, to Notre Dame, 55-51.

    February 9, 2012

  • Jones nears milestone as Notre Dame visits WVU

    That it is a crucial game in a season that seems to have nothing but, today’s 9 p.m. visit to the Coliseum by a streaking Notre Dame team comes with a historical footnote in the history of West Virginia University basketball.
    Kevin Jones enters the game having scored 20 or more points in nine consecutive games.

    February 8, 2012

  • WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion

    Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.
    A source within the Mountaineer athletic department said on Tuesday that the matter was nearing a conclusion and also told the Times West Virginian that West Virginia would be reinstating a golf team to compete in the Big 12.

    February 8, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU, Irish strikingly similar

    Consider, if you will, that it is Nov. 25 past, that the West Virginia University basketball team is running a routine drill four games into its season, getting ready for the Akron game when Kevin Jones goes down in a heap on the floor, his ACL torn, his season over.

    February 8, 2012

  • WVU source: Battle to join Big 12 nearing conclusion

    Indications were growing that West Virginia University’s battle to leave the Big East and join the Big 12 in time for the 2012 season was about to be won, possibly as early as today.

    February 7, 2012

  • HERTZEL COLUMN - Truck drives Mountaineers to needed win

    Perhaps it is what has kept him going through a West Virginia basketball career with as many turns as a trip to Pineville down in Wyoming County, but Truck Bryant enjoys being Truck Bryant.

    February 6, 2012

  • WVU finds a way, wins in overtime

    Truck Bryant made the headline plays, including a 3-point shot with 3.3 seconds left to play, as West Virginia saved its season with an 87-84 overtime victory at Providence, but the subheads had to be reserved for Deniz Kilicli and a pair of freshman guards.

    February 6, 2012