PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The No. 12 West Virginia baseball team jumped out a big lead, Wednesday, before having to hold on late in a 9-8 win over Pitt at Charles L. Cost Field. The Mountaineers complete the Backyard Brawl season sweep and improve to 37-12 while the Panthers fall to 21-25.
After taking over the nation’s top batting average over the weekend, sophomore JJ Wetherholt raised it even more as he went 3-for-4 with a home run, a double, and two RBI. Redshirt-senior Caleb McNeely hit his 11th home run of the season while freshman Logan Sauve added two hits and a run scored.
Pitt jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after one inning, but in the second, McNeely blasted a three-run home run the other way to put the Mountaineers out in front.
After the Panthers evened things back up in the fourth, WVU answered with six runs in the fifth to take the lead. It started with a two-run home run from Wetherholt before freshman Ellis Garcia added two runs with a single. Sauve followed with another single to score one more before the two freshmen executed a first-and-third double steal.
The Panthers responded with two runs in the fifth before graduate student Noah Short and sophomore Keegan Allen each put up zeroes in their outings out of the pen. However, in the seventh, Pitt got to the Mountaineer bullpen with three runs to make it a one-run game.
Redshirt-freshman David Hagaman came on in relief in the eighth and retired the Panthers in order with a strikeout. In the ninth, junior Carlson Reed allowed a hit and a walk but struck out three to pick up his sixth save of the season.
The Mountaineers will return to Wagener Field at Monongalia County Ballpark this weekend for the penultimate Big 12 series of the season as they face Texas Tech. First pitch on Friday is set for 6:30 p.m.
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Discussion about this post