West Virginia sweeps three-game series

Coming off of three wins in four games in last week’s Papa John’s Challenge, the Pitt baseball… Coming off of three wins in four games in last week’s Papa John’s Challenge, the Pitt baseball team looked primed for a successful start to its Big East season at West Virginia this past weekend.

The Mountaineers had other ideas.

West Virginia dismantled the Panthers in all three contests at Hawley Field in Morgantown, sending Pitt to four consecutive defeats overall.

The tough weekend dropped Pitt’s record to 6-11 overall and 0-3 in Big East play. The Mountaineers improved their tally to 16-4 and 3-0 in the conference with the trio of victories.

The ultimate culprit for the Panthers was perhaps their strong point coming into the series, their starting pitching.

In the three contests, Pitt’s starting pitchers gave up 24 earned runs and 29 overall runs in only 9 2/3 innings of work.

The initial affair on Thursday was the hardest on the Panthers. West Virginia scored 12 runs in the first inning alone and held on for a 15-12 win.

The Mountaineers were victorious on Friday and Saturday, as well, winning 12-6 and 8-1, respectively.

Despite the overwhelming numbers put up by West Virginia early in the games, Pitt found several positives on the weekend.

The relief pitching particularly stood out in all three games. Four relievers combined to give up only three earned runs in 14 and one-third innings of work. All three of those runs came in the middle game.

Pitt’s offense also showed a never-give-up mentality, mounting rallies in each game after starting each down by a large margin.

Outfielder Sean Conley stayed hot, launching his sixth home run of the year in Thursday’s game. He smacked three over the fence in the Papa John’s Challenge, giving him four in his last seven games.

Joe Leonard, Morgan Kielty and Danny Lopez all connected for home runs as well in the series. Lopez recorded five RBIs on the weekend.

The Panthers look to bounce back today on the road against Ohio State at 2:05 p.m. in a non-conference battle. Pitt then will prepare for its first home series of the year, three games against Big East foe Louisville that begin on Friday.

WVU 15, Pitt 12

The Mountaineers got on the board early and often against Pitt, tallying a whopping 12 runs in the first inning. But they had to withstand a furious Pitt comeback to hold on by only three runs.

West Virginia totaled 12 hits in the first inning to go along with 12 runs and finished with 19 hits on the game. But Pitt didn’t go away quietly.

The Panthers manufactured runs with walks and hit-by-pitches in the second and third innings.

Pitt scored nine runs within the two innings to lower the deficit to 12-9.

West Virginia added a run in the bottom of the third to go up by four, and finally some pitching entered on both sides. Neither side scored again until the seventh frame.

Lopez hit a single that scored Kielty and Jordan Herr to make the score 13-11. But in the bottom of the inning, the Mountaineers scored two runs to put the game away.

The senior Conley hit his sixth home run of the year in the top of the eighth to finish the scoring.

Pitt starter Nate Reed received the loss, striking out five batters in three innings. Freshman reliever Corey Baker gave up only three hits and no earned runs while pitching five innings.

WVU 12, Pitt 6

Pitt once again found itself in an insurmountable hole on Friday, this time with the help of some defensive miscues. By the time the dust cleared, Pitt was down 10-0 after six innings.

Leonard finally put the Panthers on the board with a solo shot in the top of the seventh. Pitt added another run in the inning, but West Virginia got those runs back with one each in the seventh and eighth innings.

Pitt scored four more runs in the ninth, refusing to give up. Kielty hit his first home run of the year, finishing off a 2-for-5 day at the plate. Freshman right fielder John Schultz went 3 for 3 in the contest.

Rob Brant was saddled with the loss, his second of the season.

WVU 8, Pitt 1

Lopez and freshman reliever David Kaye turned in standout performances in Pitt’s final loss of the weekend, an 8-1 defeat on Saturday.

The Panthers only had three hits in the game, but Lopez had two of them, including a solo home run that accounted for Pitt’s only run of the affair.

Kaye pitched five hitless innings in relief of starter Brian Chrisman, who gave up eight runs in two innings. Kaye struck out four Mountaineers and walked none.

Ricky Breymier pitched the final inning in the loss, also not giving up a hit. West Virginia was held hitless in the last six innings after collecting eight in the first two.