Baseball splits against Mountaineers

It wasn’t exactly the warmest weather for an April baseball game, but with West Virginia… It wasn’t exactly the warmest weather for an April baseball game, but with West Virginia University in town, the Panthers were prepared for another heated battle.

Pitt (21-10 overall, 4-6 Big East) played two hard-fought games Sunday afternoon, splitting the doubleheader with the Mountaineers. Despite a remarkable comeback attempt in the first game, the Panthers lost 10-8, but capitalized on phenomenal pitching in game two and picked up a 4-0 win.

West Virginia 10, Pitt 8

Pitching is generally a problem in cold weather and it proved to be the case for both teams in this matchup. Joe Engel took the mound for the Panthers and did not last very long.

Kurtis Clinton got things rolling for the Mountaineers early with a leadoff home run in the top of the second inning. However, Pitt immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning when Alex Rybczak smacked a leadoff shot of his own to deep leftfield to tie the game.

The Panthers continued to hit the ball, building a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the third after an RBI single by Rybczak. However, West Virginia, who has the top three home run hitters in the conference, would not trail much longer.

Tim McCabe crushed his ninth homer of the season to begin an explosive fourth inning for the Mountaineers. West Virginia went on to send 12 batters to the plate in the inning to total six more runs and take a 7-3 lead.

The Mountaineers (17-10, 2-2) went on to score two runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh inning to ensure their lead. The Panthers, however, didn’t go away.

After scoring four runs in its half of the seventh inning, Pitt cut the West Virginia lead to 10-8. But with two outs in the final inning of play, Ryan Lipscomb came in as the relief pitcher to get the final out and pick up a save.

Jason DiAngelo got credit for the Mountaineer victory, pitching a notable 6 1/3 innings. Despite only pitching 3 1/3 innings, Joe Engel was credited for the Pitt loss, allowing six runs and seven hits.

Pitt 4, West Virginia 0

A remarkable effort on the mound by Jeff Barnyak held the Mountaineers scoreless in game two. Barnyak, who improved his record to 4-0, allowed only six hits in 8 1/3 innings pitched to get the Panther win.

The Pitt offense was not as explosive as the first game, but got just enough to secure a victory. Zac Cline, the losing pitcher for West Virginia, gave the Panthers a little help in the second inning.

The Panthers took advantage of an error by Cline to score a run in the bottom of the second inning. Pitt picked up one more run later in the inning on a sacrifice fly by Rybczak to take a 2-0 lead.

A double by Scott Folmar in the fourth inning scored a third run for the Panthers and Bryan Spamer brought home a run later in the game with a sacrifice fly.

Despite scoring 12 runs in the doubleheader, the Panthers continue to struggle at the plate with men on base. Pitt left 24 runners on base in the two games, failing to capitalize on several opportunities with the bases loaded.

The Panthers have now fallen to ninth place in the Big East standings, but hope to improve their overall record tonight in a nonconference matchup with Akron. First pitch is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Akron.