(Photo gallery by Teran Malone)
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — The WVU baseball program has a new home run king and the Mountaineers earned a season sweep of Pittsburgh with an 11-1 win at PNC Park in a contest that was shortened to seven innings by the ten-run rule.
Junior first baseman Grant Hussey blasted a pair of home runs, giving him a program-record 36 in his WVU career. The Parkersburg South High School graduate leaped over University High School alumnus Jedd Gyorko and Tim McCabe atop the list.
“I looked at it at the start of the season. It was always a goal of mine,” said Hussey.
“I felt like a little kid out there today. That was probably the most emotion I have ever had running around the bases. I am not too much of an emotional person.”
“Look at how many players have played at West Virginia over the last hundred years that were really, really good players that don’t have that record,” said WVU head coach Randy Mazey. “Here comes Grant from our state. Our crowd seems to gravitate towards West Virginia kids because we don’t get that many. I think we have only four or five on this team. When an in-state kid does something like that, it just makes the whole state proud of him.”
West Virginia (27-16) posted multi-run innings in four of the first five frames. Reed Chumley opened the scoring in the first with a run-scoring single. Hussey would later hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run first inning for the visitors.
A two-run double from JJ Wetherholt in the second inning quickly extended WVU’s cushion to 6-0. An inning later, Benjamin Lumsden connected for a two-run home run to straightaway center field, making the score 8-0.
Hussey delivered his record-breaking home run in the fifth inning with a two-run shot. Hussey went 3-for-5 with five runs batted in. Lumdsen, Wetherholt, Logan Sauve and Sam White each had multi-hit games.
Starting pitcher Gavin Van Kempen tossed three scoreless innings to collect his seventh victory of the season. He struck out four batters and allowed two hits.
WVU defeated Pittsburgh, 6-3 two weeks ago in Granville. West Virginia will visit Cincinnati for a three-game weekend series starting on Friday night.