WVU declaws Panthers 10-0 via mercy
West Virginia beat rival Pittsburgh 10-0 in the Backyard Brawl in front of 4,070 fans at Monongalia County Ballpark Wednesday night.
Carson Estridge started the game strong from the mound, striking out the first two batters of the day before letting up two consecutive singles. He would close the inning with a third strikeout, bringing the Mountaineers up to bat for the first time of the night.
Tevin Tucker struck out looking, but JJ Wetherholt followed it up with a sharply hit single. An overthrown ball on a steal from first moved Wetherholt to third. Landon Wallace then brought him home on a single to center, putting the Mountaineers on the board early. A strikeout and fly-out would close the first with West Virginia up 1-0.
WVU continued the strong defense behind Estridge, who began the second inning with two more strikeouts. The third batter would ground out to short, making it a quick 1-2-3 defensive stand.
Power hitter Grant Hussey led off the bottom of the second, but it was Caleb McNeely who would homer over the left field fence following Hussey’s strikeout, adding another run to WVU’s tally. Following the homer, a flyout and strikeout would close the inning.
Three quick ground outs by Pitt put WVU back at the plate with Tevin Tucker leading off. He would walk to put a man on first with Wetherholt coming up to bat, who hit a single to right. The play would conclude with Wetherholt on second and Tucker on third. Another single brought Tucker home, leaving men on second and third, still with no outs. An RBI groundout would put WVU up four with a man on third and two outs to go. The Panthers finished the inning without letting up another score.
Despite a walk and single to start the fourth, three straight outs on a pop-up and two Ks left Pittsburgh still scoreless.
A single and a hit batter put men on first and second to get things moving the bottom of the fourth for the Mountaineers. Then, Wetherholt got his third hit of the day on just as many at bats, with a three run rocket over the high part of the right field fence to extend WVU’s lead to seven. The inning would conclude without any more scoring.
The fifth inning brought a new pitcher for the Mountaineers, but still no runs for the Panthers despite loading the bases with two outs.
Pitt also made a pitching change in the fifth, their second of the night, bringing in Jonathan Bautista who led Pitt to their first scoreless defensive inning thus far.
The sixth inning would still bring no offensive success for Pittsburgh, nor defensive success, as WVU would score two more runs before the start of the seventh.
Another scoreless inning by Pitt plus another run by West Virginia in the bottom of the seventh gave the Mountaineers a 10-0 win via mercy.
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