MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — KC Huth called his full-extension grab in left-center “one of the catches you dream of,” and the Monongalia County Ballpark crowd responded with a standing ovation.
West Virginia only wished it gave fans more reason to cheer Tuesday night.
The third-largest crowd in program history (3,037)—amped for the baseball version of the Backyard Brawl on a clear, breezy night—saw the Mountaineers commit four errors and strike out 15 times in a 4-1 loss to Pitt.
Failing to capitalize on nine hits, West Virginia (25-24) finished 2-of-19 with runners on base and 1-of-10 when they were in scoring position.
“We’ve got to play better,” said coach Randy Mazey, whose team has dropped 12 of its last 16 games. “But I mean, what a crowd. There will be a time where we get this thing really rolling and these people get really, really excited about coming back to watch us. Right now we’re not given them too much to get excited about.”
Huth’s acrobatic defense was the exception.
The center fielder’s top-speed, over-the-shoulder diving catch robbed Ron Sherman of extra bases in the sixth. Within minutes, there was a Twitter campaign to land the catch on SportsCenter’s Top 10.
“I told my friends back home this year I was going to get on (SportsCenter) just once,” Huhth said. “If that play doesn’t make it on, then I don’t know.
“I felt I had a really good jump on it, and I knew it was all or nothing.”
Mazey hugged the junior after the game and bragged, “That’s as good a catch as you’ll ever see at any level of baseball.”
Check out this unreal diving catch by @Kc_Huth! Are you kidding me? Please retweet! #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/gE3llT8Wso
— WVU Baseball (@WVU_Baseball) May 13, 2015
“That’s as good a catch as you’ll ever see at any level of baseball.” — West Virginia coach Randy Mazey
Pitt (18-31) came in with the nation’s 171st-ranked ERA at 4.67 but trotted out four pitchers who were stifling.
The second of those arms, Isaac Mattson (1-1), actually struck out four batters in the fourth inning. He needed the extra one after strike three on Jackson Cramer squirted away from catcher Manny Pazos, whose throw ricocheted off the back of Cramer racing down the first-base line.
After WVU starter Ross Vance tossed one inning in a tuneup for this weekend’s game, Pitt strung together three hits against Adam Keller (1-2) in the second inning. Even with the bonus of a Taylor Munden throwing error, the Panthers squandered a chance to do big damage. Alex Kowalczyk scored on Ron Sherman’s single before left fielder Brad Johnson’s throw cut down Aaron Schnurbush trying to go from first to third.
Kyle Davis had three hits for West Virginia, including a two-out single and stolen base ahead of Munden’s RBI single in the third.
Schnurbush singled to open the fourth, stole second and eventually scored on a two-out passed ball Ray Guerrini.
West Virginia wasted Huth’s one-out triple in the fifth, and stranded Caleb Potter in the sixth after he walked and took second on a wild pitch.
Munden also ended a threat in the seventh by striking out with two runners in scoring position, part of 11 men stranded by the Mountaineers.
“We had guys hitting it around, but it was just one of those nights,” Davis said.
Schnurbush added a two-run double in the seventh off Jackson Sigman, one of seven pitchers deployed by Mazey.
Next up for West Virginia is a crucial Big 12 series Thursday through Friday against Texas Tech. Currently occupying the eighth and final spot for the league tournament, the Mountaineers sit only a half-game ahead of Kansas and percentage points behind Baylor and Kansas State. That essentially creates a final-weekend frenzy where the bottom four teams are competing for the final three slots.