Hobbled Pitt drags WVU through 11 innings at PNC Park before losing
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Mike Bell was unhappy when the 2021 NCAA Tournament field was revealed, and his Pitt baseball team was not among the chosen 64.
Who could blame him? Pitt won 17 games against the top 50 of the RPI and was 18-12 against teams in the NCAA field. The Panthers were expecting to make their first postseason appearance in 26 years.
But when Baseball America posted its projection for the ‘22 tournament this week — and there was Pitt sitting in the Stillwater, Okla., pod – it represented an almost meaningless moment.
Told about it, Bell merely shrugged.
There is so much more work to do, players to get healthy, big games to win, and the quest resumes Friday in Coral Gables, Fla., against No. 5 Miami.
“That’s just the body of work that was done so far,” he said. “All that means is you put yourrself in position. It’s nice for our guys to be noticed, but it doesn’t mean anything.”
After Pitt (21-14) lost to West Virginia, 3-2, in 11 innings Wednesday at PNC Park, Bell’s first order of business was praising the fight he saw from his hobbled team while battling the Mountaineers (23-12), who are in third place in the Big 12.
Pitt was without five injured starters, who have combined to hit 30 of Pitt’s 57 home runs. The entire WVU team has only 28.
Out of the lineup were third baseman Sky Duff, shortstop Brock Franks and outfielders Kyle Hess, Jordan Anderson, Ron Washington Jr. and C.J. Funk. Four of them are hitting .286 or better, led by Hess (.330).
“For us to dwell on it and say, ‘Woe is us,’ ” Bell said. “Nobody’s going to give us a hall pass.”
Also, closer Baron Stuart, who has five saves, was unavailable after appearing in two games last weekend while Pitt was taking two of three from No. 8 Virginia. It was Pitt’s third consecutive series victory against a ranked team. The Panthers have won eight of their past 11 ACC games.
With the game on the line Wednesday, Brady Devereux stepped up and threw 3 1/3 innings in relief. Also, starter Jonathan Bautista did not walk a batter in three innings. He had walked 14 in 8 1/3 previous innings.
Devereux kept WVU scoreless in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings. Each time, the Mountaineers had – in order — bases loaded, runners on second and third and Nathan Blasick on third after a triple.
“He did a phenomenal job for us,” Bell said of Devereux.
On the other side of the baseball, Pitt managed only three hits, and was hitless in nine of the 11 innings. The Panthers scored in the fifth when Jeffrey Wehler doubled and Tatem Levins singled and in the sixth when Dom Popa (Seton LaSalle) belted a triple to score John Overbeek.
Two of West Virginia’s runs were unearned. WVU scored on a wild pitch, an error by pitcher Tyler Kennedy on a botched pickoff attempt at third and Wehler’s throwing error on Mars graduate J.J. Wetherholt’s infield single in the 11th.
“Those are things we can shore up a little bit,” Bell said. “When you play good teams in close ball games, those are the little things that show up. We knew (Wednesday) was going to be a close game.”
WVU coach Randy Mazey was not apologizing for a victory in which his team stole 10 bases in 11 attempts, pumping the team’s success rate to 80.6% (125 of 155).
“There’s no place I can hide from our players,” Mazey said. “When they get on base, they are looking for me constantly to give them the steal sign. That’s the way we play. That’s how we win. That’s how we lose.
“We could have pretty easily lost that game with 10 steals. That’s hard to do. That’s like rushing for 1,200 yards and losing the game. We have to find a way to get hits with men in scoring position. Kids get caught up in the situation rather than the fundamentals.”
Mazey said he would like to play Pitt three times a year – home and home and once at PNC Park, where the Mountaineers are 4-0.
“I think we should build an exact replica in Morgantown,” he said. “The Mountaineer fans get mad at me all the time when I say I want Pitt to be good. And they are good and that makes me happy because it makes the rivalry better and stronger and makes the games better.”