GRANVILLE, W.Va. — West Virginia scored runs in six of their seven innings at the plate and eight of nine players in the lineup reached base as the No. 12 Mountaineers cruised to their ninth consecutive win with a 10-0 victory over Pittsburgh in the 207th Backyard Brawl at Monongalia County Ballpark.
The game was shortened by the run-rule in the seventh inning when Ellis Garcia sent Caleb McNeely home with WVU’s tenth run. A crowd of 4,070 filed in on a raw and rainy evening to set a new regular-season attendance record in the ninth year of the park.
“This atmosphere has got our guys so energized that we literally didn’t give away an at bat the entire day today,” said WVU head coach Randy Mazey. “Our guys were ready to play and ready to make this whole community proud of what we are doing. I think the young guys are starting to figure out what the Pitt series means to this community.”
A pair of WVU pitchers combined on the shutout. Starting pitcher Carson Estridge allowed just three hits in four innings before giving way to Gavin Van Kempen for the final three frames. It was Estridge’s longest appearance of the season.
“Around the fourth inning my velo(city) does decrease and I have a little bit of a problem with that,” Estridge said. “But that’s something I look forward to being able to do a lot more.”
“He’s kind of tricky,” Mazey said. “He doesn’t throw as hard as the other guys but it is a fastball that is a little harder to hit. We’ve just got to get his endurance up. He had an injury to start the season and missed the first month. He is just now catching his groove, I think.”
West Virginia scored single runs in the first two innings and added two in the third to build a 4-0 lead. JJ Wetherholt broke the game open in the fourth inning with a three-run home run, his 12th of the season.
“I got back to my approach, which was left-center field with the heater,” Wetherholt said. “It was a pitch on the outer half of the plate and I did exactly what I was thinking.”
WVU added two runs in the sixth and the final run in the seventh to close out the game. Landon Wallace went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in. Braden Barry drove in two runs and had a pair of hits.
“Barry is a guy that is a little bit up and down. He is a little streaky at times,” Mazey said. “When he is seeing it well, that’s where you want him right in the middle of that lineup.”
“There’s not a hole in this lineup,” Barry said. “We have faith in everyone. No matter what the situation is, we know we can score a run when we need to. There’s no hole, no gap or whatever.”
McNeely connected for his tenth home run of the season in the second inning. WVU outhit Pittsburgh 11-4.
West Virginia has claimed the first two meetings against Pittsburgh (20-22) this season. The Mountaineers won at PNC Park on April 19. The season series concludes next Wednesday at Cost Field in Pittsburgh.
The Mountaineers (34-11, 11-4 Big 12) look to extend their hold on first place in the Big 12 when they host Oklahoma in a weekend series. First pitch Friday evening is set for 6:30 p.m.