MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia pitchers issued 11 walks, including two that forced home the go-ahead runs in extra innings, leading to a 7-5 loss against Canisius on Tuesday night at Monongalia County Ballpark.
The Mountaineers (12-9) collected 12 hits but couldn’t overcome their pitchers’ wildness.
“I thought we had good at-bats, and offensively we did OK, it just seemed like the pitchers were afraid to throw it over the plate,” WVU coach Randy Mazey said. “If you’re a pitcher, you can’t get people out without them hitting the ball. I think we tried to get through the whole game without them ever hitting the ball.”
Canisius (10-13) stranded 15 runners but broke through in the top of the 10th inning after Conner Dotson (4-2) issued a two-out walk. Reliever Jeff Hardy came on and allowed a single followed by two walks that made it 6-5. Michael Grove then walked in an insurance run.
After stranding a pair in the ninth on pinch-hitter Shaun Wood’s groundout, West Virginia left the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th on Kyle Davis’ game-ending infield pop-up.
Davis had two hits and scored three runs, while freshmen outfielders Kyle Gray and Darius Hill both had two hits and an RBI.
WVU right-hander BJ Myers, who got the start after Sunday’s game at Kansas was nixed by snow, pitched two scoreless innings. But Braden Zarbnisky and Brandon Boone gave up five runs over the next 3 1/3 innings before Jackson Sigman shut down Canisius over 3 1/3 of his own.
WVU tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning when Davis led off with a single and scored on Hill’s double down the left-field line.
The two-game midweek series concludes Wednesday at 3 p.m.