A record crowd of 4,614 fans showed up to Kendrick Family Ballpark on Tuesday night, which was a single-game record for West Virginia baseball.
They saw WVU starting pitcher Tyler Switalski give them a solid outing on the mound, and coupled that with a scrappy performance on offense, helping No. 22 WVU beat rival Pitt, 6-3.
Tyler Switalski gave WVU (23-13, 11-4 Big 12) the start they needed on the mound, turning in arguably his best performance of the season on Tuesday. On Sunday, Switalski was roughed up by UCF, as he couldn’t make it through an entire inning, using 29 pitches to throw 0.2 innings. In that span, he surrendered four runs on five hits, recording only one strikeout.
Two days later, the southpaw returned to the mound, getting the start for the Mountaineers and it was a much different story.
He turned out his best outing of the season, throwing 3.2 innings, but gave up no runs on six hits, striking out three and walking three. It was Switalski’s first scoreless outing of the season and his longest outing since March 2nd against Western Kentucky.
After getting his first start at shortstop since returning from his hamstring injury, the Mountaineers lost their star leadoff batter as he was limping and then taken out of the game. In his place came Spencer Barnett who got the Mountaineers on the board in the third inning.
Barnett singled, and then advanced to third on a throwing error from Pitt pitcher Matthew Fernandez. Barnett would then score on a wild pitch from Fernandez, sliding in head first to the plate. Logan Sauve who would reach on the error by Fernandez then scored on a double from Sam White, who then scored on a sacrafice-fly from Reed Chumley, putting the Mountaineers ahead 3-0 after the third inning.
Despite the cushion though, the fourth inning was one of two main trouble spots for Switalski.
Switalski struggled in the first inning, giving up a leadoff single, but would record the first out of the inning as he returned the favor to Luke Cantwell, picking him off first to record the first out of the inning. That out would be crucial for Switalski, giving up a walk and single to the next two batters.
With runners on the corners and one out, Switalski was able to strike out CJ Funk and Dom Pope, ending the threat.
The second spot came in the fourth inning, as Switalski walked two consecutive batters with one out. He then got the second out of the inning on a groundout, but was pulled for Hayden Cooper.
Cooper faced Jayden Melendez with two outs and runners on second and third, the Panthers’ leading home run hitter. Cooper got Melendez to pop out, ending the threat, keeping WVU’s lead intact.
Cooper getting out of the jam gave WVU some momentum heading into the bottom of the inning where they capitalized again.
Grant Hussey was hit by a pitch to start the fourth, advancing to second on a balk. He would score on a single from Aaron Jamison. Barnett would then deliver a sac-bunt, scoring Brodie Kresser, before Jamison scored on a single from Sauve, as WVU’s lead was extended to 6-0.
Cooper would end up pitching into the eighth inning, giving up three runs in the eighth. Melendez hit his 11th home run of the season, a two-run blast, as WVU’s lead was cut in half at the end of the inning, 6-3.
That would be as close as Pitt got as Carson Estridge shut the door in the ninth, giving WVU their fourth consecutive win.
