West Virginia headed just over an hour north on Wednesday night for a non-conference matchup with the Pittsburgh Panthers at PNC Park. The Mountaineers were able to use a five run third inning to overcome an early deficit and walk away with a rivalry win, 9-4.
Pitt (16-18, 7-9), scored two runs in the first, then two more in the top of the third to take an early four run lead, but that was all the Panthers would score on the night, with the WVU bullpen going 6.2 innings of scoreless baseball.
West Virginia scored nine runs on 12 hits, with eight of the nine runs coming in the third and fourth innings. After the five run third inning, the Mountaineers added another three runs in the fourth to add insurance runs over the Panthers.
Tevin Tucker had three or more hits for the third straight game, going 3-4 with a walk and two runs scored. Caleb McNeely and Braden Barry each had two hit games, with both getting two RBI’s and McNeely adding two runs scored.
Pitt scored two first inning runs on a Noah Martinez RBI double down the right field line, followed by a Justin Acal RBI single into left field.
Noah Martinez led off the top of the third with his second double of the game, then was able to come around and score on a fielding error two batters later. Later in the inning Pitt got runners on the corners with two outs after a balk and a single. Caleb Sturtevant hit a single to third base to give Pitt a 4-0 lead after the top of the third.
The West Virginia offense woke up in the bottom half of the inning, hitting three straight singles to start the inning from Logan Sauve, Sam White and Tevin Tucker. Landon Wallace added a fourth straight single to score one run, then Dayne Leoanrd extended the consecutive singles streak to five with an RBI single of his own, this time scoring two runs.
Caleb McNeely was hit by a pitch to reload the bases with no one out, but two straight outs from the Mountaineers had them threatening to leave the bases loaded. Braden Barry came through with the Mountaineers sixth single of the inning, tying the game. The go ahead run scored on the next batter, as Logan Sauve walked to force in a run and give WVU the lead.
The Mountaineers pitching staff got their first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the top of the fourth, before adding three more runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. Tevin Tucker started the inning with a single and stole second before Wallace walked. Tucker went second to home on a passed ball to extend the lead.
McNeely hit a RBI single to score Wallace, and then an Ellis Garcia single followed by Grant Hussey being hit by a pitch that loaded the bases once again. Barry hit a RBI flyout to score WVU’s third run of the inning and give the Mountaineers an 8-4 lead after four innings.
Caleb McNeely added the final run of the game for either team in the bottom of the sixth inning on a solo home run to give WVU a 9-4 lead.
Gavin Van Kempen, Noah Short and Grant Siegel combined to shut out the Pitt offense for 5.2 innings, giving up a combined five hits and striking out five Panthers batters.
Blaine Traxel came out of the WVU bullpen for the first time this season to pitch the ninth inning, and after allowing a leadoff double got three straight outs to finish the game. West Virginia moved to 5-0 all-time in games played at PNC Park.
West Virginia will be back in action on Friday, returning home for the first time since April 9th to host TCU for game one of a three game series at 6:30 p.m.
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