PITTSBURGH — Tuesday night’s game between West Virginia and Pitt was already set to be special due to it being played at PNC Park. Two big swings from Grant Hussey later and what turned from special due to the venue, turned in to a different kind of special for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia’s Grant Hussey came into Tuesday night one home run shy of tying the all-time WVU mark. By the end of the night, Hussey would own the home run title outright, as he hit two blasts and the Mountaineers made easy work of rival Pitt, beating them 11-1 (7 inn.), and claiming their seventh straight victory of the Panthers.
West Virginia flexed their firepower from the very first pitch of the game. Logan Sauve stepped into the batters box to lead off the game and roped a double to the left-center gap. Two batters later, Reed Chumley singled to put WVU on the board, 1-0. Sam White followed. Chumley’s single with a knock of his own, before Hussey hit his 10th home run of the year, hitting a three-run home run to the opposite field, as West Virginia led 4-0.
Hussey’s home run was his 35th of his Mountaineer career, tying him with Jedd Gyroko and Tim McCabe atop the WVU all-time home run list.
West Virginia scored two more runs in both the second and third innings, as JJ Wetherholt hit a two-run double in the second, while, Ben Lumsden smoked a two-run home run to dead center as WVU was in full control, leading, 8-0.
In the fifth, Hussey stepped to the plate again with a chance at history. After reaching on a bunt single in his second at-bat, Hussey had his sights set on the Pittsburgh skyline. Hussey hammered a pitch into the right field bleachers, hitting his record-setting 36th home run, putting him alone at the top of the West Virginia record books.
The homer from Hussey was also consequential for WVU as it put them in front 10-0, before they added another run on a sacrifice-fly from Logan Sauve, leading 11-0 after five innings.
Gavin Van Kempen got the start for West Virginia on the mound, and gave the Mountaineers three scoreless innings. He pitched around two singles in the second, and finished with four strikeouts. After Van Kempen came Switalski, who also worked out of trouble once, but also gave up one run in the sixth. After Switalski came Chase Meyer and Joseph Fredericks, who each tossed a scoreless inning.
West Virginia’s offense tallied 14 total hits, and scored their most runs in a game against the Panthers (11) since 2018. WVU was left by Hussey who went 3-for-4 with 5 RBIs and three runs scored. Lumsden went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
