By: James Gravley | WV Sports Chat
He was originally scheduled to make his West Virginia debut on Sunday in the series finale against Georgia Southern, but with weather impeding on Sunday, Dawson Montesa will get the call on the bump Saturday in game two of the doubleheader.
WVU defeated Georgia Southern on Opening Day, 15-3.
Reese Bassinger and the Mountaineers’ bullpen impressed on Opening Day, too.
As for Montesa, he will be making his DI debut tonight. He transferred in from Adelphi where he went 8-1 with an impressive 1.99 ERA and 105 strikeouts to only 24 walks allowed over 72.1 innings of work.
Montesa is looking to build off that DII experience and hopes it can translate to the DI level with West Virginia.
Montesa, who told WV Sports Chat this offseason that he was shooting for the rotation has worked hard during the fall ball season to earn the third day rotational piece for the Mountaineers.
Montesa, who was a starter for Adelphi the past two seasons appearing in 22 games, 20 of which he started, posting an impressive 155 strikeouts over 116 innings of work is raising the bar and his expectations to start for West Virginia this season.
West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins targeted him (along with other DII transfers like Ian Korn and Chansen Cole) to bolster the pitching staff, following recent success with DII pitchers such as Derek Clark and Griffin Kirn. Both Clark (2024) and Kirn (2025) are now playing baseball professionally and both drastically improved their draft stock after just one season with WVU.
Cole made his WVU debut on Friday night working 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts along the way.
Photo: Dawson Montesa
