Pitt baseball: West Virginia rallies at PNC Park to win first installment of Backyard Brawl, 9-4
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West Virginia came to PNC Park on Wednesday night missing its most dynamic player, Mars alum J.J. Wetherholt.
The sophomore infielder, who ranks among the Big 12 leaders in a multitude of statistical categories, including batting average (.451, first, sixth nationally), hits (64, tied-first), doubles (16, second) and stolen bases (27, first, tied-fourth nationally) did not play Wednesday after getting banged up last weekend against Oklahoma State.
But against Pitt in the baseball edition of the Backyard Brawl, the Mountaineers (26-11, 5-4 Big 12) hardly needed him, as they cruised to a 9-4 win in the first of three meetings this year between the two programs.
The Panthers led 4-0 after the top of the third, but, from there, surrendered nine straight runs to West Virginia.
“To me, it was a close ballgame, probably a game of what I’d call missed opportunities,” Pitt coach Mike Bell said. “…Their hits were timely hits. You talk about getting hits when it counts.”
Pitt started Matthew Fernandez (1-3, 5.19 ERA) for the first time this year, and the junior right-hander was roughed up in his three innings, allowing five earned runs and seven hits while taking the loss.
Granted, Fernandez had efficient first and second innings, but he got into trouble in the third, when the Mountaineers scored three runs on five hits before he managed to record an out.
To Bell’s point, the Mountaineers weren’t exactly crushing the ball, but they rattled off six singles in the inning, with three not leaving the infield.
“He wasn’t thrown out there to go six-seven innings like a traditional starter (but rather to) get (us) off to a good start,” Bell said. “… He was just like that much away from minimizing some damage there and keeping the lead, but credit to (West Virginia). They put the ball in play and found a couple holes there.”
Bell, in his fifth season at the helm of the Panthers, entered Wednesday evening with 99 career victories, all with Pitt.
His next opportunity to claim his 100th win as a head coach will come Friday, when the Panthers (16-19, 7-9 ACC) host Wake Forest for three games at Charles L. Cost Field in Oakland.
Pitt enjoyed a promising start offensively, scoring a pair of runs in the first inning off Mountaineers starter Carson Estridge, courtesy of an RBI double by Noah Martinez and single by Justin Acal.
Later, in their half of the third inning, Martinez scored when West Virginia second baseman Ellis Garcia fumbled a routine grounder by Kyle Hess, who tagged home plate on an infield single by Caleb Sturtevant to make the score 4-0.
But that proved to be the extent of Pitt’s meaningful offense for the evening.
After their five-run third, the Mountaineers scored an additional three in the fourth inning, all of which were charged to reliever Jonathan Bautista, who recorded one out before being replaced by Erubiel Candelario.
Candelario eventually got out of the inning but not before an RBI flyout by Caleb McNeely, plated a third and final man.
McNeely would go on to hit a solo homer in the sixth inning off of Candelario for the last run scored in the game.
On the night, the Panthers had 11 hits in 39 at-bats (.282), while West Virginia lived up to its pre-Wednesday team batting average of .301, going 12 of 35 (.342) against the Panthers.
Sky Duff went 3 of 5 with a run in the loss, with Martinez and C.J. Funk going 2 for 5 with a pair of doubles.
“One thing we stress a lot, especially after the UVA weekend, is that this is college baseball. It’s a game of momentum, energy and enthusiasm,” said Funk.
“… Going with that mindset into some of these bigger games we have, not letting this dig us too deep of a hole (will) allow us to have an opportunity to go in and play a really good Wake Forest team this weekend.”