The Backyard Brawl hits the diamond as the West Virginia Mountaineers (23-4) welcome in their arch rival the Pittsburgh Panthers (16-11).
Pitt comes into this Big 12 ACC matchup with a below .500 record in ACC play at 3-6. They have lost three consecutive ACC series against Georgia Tech, NC State and most recently to Boston College. The Mountaineers sit at 4-3 in Big 12 play coming off a high scoring series win in Provo Utah against the BYU Cougars where they scored 29 runs in their two wins.
Sam White is leading the Mountaineers with a .400 batting average and Jace Rinehart leads the team with five home runs. On the mound for WVU Griffin Kirn and Carson Estridge have been lights out, appearing more than any other pitcher and producing efficient innings for Steve Sabins.
Infielder Luke Cantwell leads the Panthers in batting average and in hits with a .413 average and totalling 43 hits in 27 games. Ryan Zuckerman has brought the power for Pittsburgh with nine home runs and 12 doubles amounting in 34 RBI’s. On the mound for the Panthers Ethan Firoved leads the team in ERA and WHIP with his 1.84 ERA and .92 WHIP.
The Mountaineers come into this game after a series win against Big 12 opponent BYU and a single game in Columbus against The Ohio State Buckeyes 9-6. In the game Armani Guzman had a play of the year contender where he robbed a Buckeye home run and then proceeded to throw out the runner at first for a double play.
For Pittsburgh they look to bounce back and get back into the win column. They also have their sights on their first win against WVU since March 30, 2022. After this they head back home to host the Miami Hurricanes in what will be their fourth ACC series this season.
U92 The Moose will bring live coverage with play-by-play commentator Nico Caretto, Logan Powell, and Richard Turkovich as the color analysts inside Kendrick Family Ballpark. The First Pitch will be on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. and the pregame show will start at 6:00 Cody Burton will be hosting Pre/Post alongside Benjamin Stautzenbach, and Kameron Tomasetti
The broadcast can be heard locally on 91.7 FM, u92themoose.com, an Alexa At-Home Device, or the RadioFX and TuneIn apps.
Photo courtesy of WVU Sports on X.