PITTSBURGH – In the 154th edition of the Backyard Brawl, the University of Pittsburgh baseball team fell to West Virginia by a final score of 8-4 in Tuesday night’s mid-week contest.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)
The Panthers rallied in the ninth inning to score three runs, but couldn’t mount a comeback large enough to overcome their early deficit.
Pitt (11-11, 4-5 ACC) is now 73-81 all-time against their rivals in the Mountaineers (13-9, 2-1 BIG 12).
Freshman pitcher Dan Hammer (0-2) had an effective outing for the Panthers going five innings and allowing five hits and just two earned runs. Hammer registered four strikeouts in the start while walking four batters. Pitt’s defense was spotty on the evening, totaling four errors that in turn put five unearned runs to Hammer’s final stat line.
“I thought Dan did a good job,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “He kept battling. Even in that first inning he walked the first two guys and then got out. Obviously, we had our opportunities from an offensive perspective and didn’t get the job done. It was a disappointing day for us. West Virginia is a very good team. Coach Mazey does a great job over there and they’re going to be a contender for the Big 12. It’s something that we have to keep battling. You can’t teach experience, they’ve got to live it. Hopefully we can put this behind us very quickly and move on to Duke.”
Offensively redshirt senior Jacob Wright paced the Panthers, producing three of the Pitt’s five hits. Wright was 3-4 on the day with a solo home run to right field to put the Panthers on the board in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Sophomore Alex Griffith and junior third baseman Nick Banman each knocked a base hit, Griffith a single and Banman a two-RBI double.
While the Panthers drew nine walks, they also struck out 14 times and were unable to take advantage of opportunities with runners on base.
Freshman Chris Gomez tossed an inning in relief and graduate student Adam Cornwell pitched a pair of innings. Junior TJ Pagan threw two-thirds of an inning with junior Dan Furman pitching one-third of an inning.
West Virginia struck first in the fourth inning when a suicide squeeze bunt by sophomore Ivan Gonzalez scored two Mountaineers.
The fifth inning haunted the Panthers, who committed three errors in the frame, aiding the Mountaineers in pushing five runs across the board and padding their lead to 7-0. A trio of errors extended the inning for West Virginia and ultimately pushed Jordano to go to the bullpen.
Wright hit a solo home run to right field off freshman pitcher Sam Kessler to cut the deficit to 7-1, despite winds that were blowing in. Kessler was one of five Mountaineer pitchers to appear in relief.
WVU starter, freshman right-hander Isaiah Kearns picked up the win, going 3.2 innings allowing zero runs on two hits, striking out three.
West Virginia regained their seven-run lead in the top of the ninth inning after sophomore Cole Austin singled in a run. Pagan walked two runners to begin the inning.
The Panthers scored three runs in the ninth inning off Mountaineers pitcher Jackson Sigman. Sigman struggled finding the strike zone, walking two and allowing a single to give Pitt the bases loaded with no outs in the final frame.
Caleb Parry had a groundout to pick up and RBI and Banman followed that with a line drive to right field for a two out two-run double, cutting the Mountaineers lead to 8-4. Down to their final out, Pitt was unable to tack on any more runs making that the final score of the ball game.
Pitt will look to rebound as they travel down to Durham, N.C. to take on the Duke. The Panthers will play a three-game series against the Blue Devils (14-13, 4-5 ACC) Mar. 31-Apr. 2 in a crucial series as the two teams are tied amongst the top third of the ACC’s Coastal Division standings.
“They are all very big series on the weekends,” added Jordano. “This conference is a bear, every weekend is a battle and we’ll be ready. We’ll accept that challenge. But, again, I think it’s very clear, when we don’t do the things that we need to do, we’re going to get beat. That was very clear today and I hope my team understands that and I can assure you in practice tomorrow I’m going to be very clear with making sure that they do understand.”
