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With two weekends to go and a chance at a Big 12 title and potentially being a regional host, West Virginia has a lot of questions facing them, and they are coming at the worst time possible.
As the final stretch of the season approaches, the Mountaineers have to figure out their pitching staff now.
While weekends have not been an issue for WVU most of this season, it will take more than the usual effort once this team enters Big 12 postseason play and NCAA Tournament play. The Mountaineers have relied upon Griffin Kirn, Jack Kartsonas, Chase Meyer, Reese Bassinger, and Carson Estridge, but they need to get more results from a pitching staff that continues to have few answers.
Against Pitt on Tuesday, West Virginia walked eight batters and hit another four batters. As a staff, they threw 188 total pitches, and 55.8 percent of those pitches were strikes.
"I don't think we ever want to blame it on the weather or the conditions. That's college baseball in this part of the country, you'll get some of this. We weren't crisp enough, we didn't throw enough strikes, we didn't compete enough. Both sides had an unusually high amount of walks, and they capitalized on the free passes more than we did tonight," West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins said.
The Mountaineers tried to get their best arms in the game when it mattered most, but that leads to the bigger issue facing Sabins and this team right now — who can step up on the mound as there will be more games played in a shorter time period once late May and June hit.
Sabins tried to have multiple guys step up against the Panthers on Tuesday before he was forced to go back to the horses who have gotten his team to this point. He went to Bryant Yoak in the third inning, who hit a batter, walked a batter, and then gave up a single to load the bases. Sabins then turned to Ben McDougal, who gave up a walk and then a two-run single, and Pitt turned a 4-0 deficit into a 4-3 deficit.
Yoak and McDougal threw a combined 21 pitches. 10 of them were strikes.
Tyler Hutson was the best option out of the bullpen on Tuesday, potentially working his way into a potential weekend role with the status of Gavin Van Kempen up in the air right now.
Hutson threw four innings, allowing two runs on four hits, striking out six, with the biggest thing being, he didn't walk a batter. He threw 65 pitches, 41 for strikes, and the two runs he gave up came off a double and a home run.
In the seventh, it was David Hagen's turn to try and get an inning of work, while keeping WVU's 6-5 lead intact, but he walked the bases loaded, meaning Estridge had to come into the game earlier than probably expected. That therefore meant in the ninth, once Estridge hit 30 pitches, he had to be taken out of the game.
"We knew that he was only available, probably for 30 pitches," Sabins said of Estridge.
Estridge exited with a runner on first after a hit batter, and then started the next guy 2-0, before he eventually walked as his pitch count was at 33.
In came Ben Hudson, who gave up a home run to the first batter he faced, and it was downhill from there.
Pitt loaded the bases with the tying run on third base, and WVU was forced to bring in Bassinger to try and just extend the game as much as possible. Bassinger threw 86 pitches on Saturday, and three days later, he was asked to try and escape a jam, when Sabins didn't want to have to use him at all on Tuesday.
"We didn't want to use him, and Bassinger convinced us before the game that he was good for a batter. Tomorrow, he would probably throw a bullpen, a light bullpen, but he's our best reliever for sure. This game is important to us, and we have to win this game, but his health and longevity over the course of the season is more important. The feeling was we could probably use him for 10 pitches for him to be in the best position he could be in going into the weekend," Sabins said.
No matter if Bassinger were to pull the game out or not on Tuesday, the bigger issue facing this team is who will be able to step up on the mound. Van Kempen was lost to what appeared to be an injury after two innings last weekend, and the number of reliable options for Sabins is lessening by the day.
West Virginia now finds themselves having lost three straight midweeks to three regional rivals in Penn State, Marshall, and Pitt. WVU's RPI slipped into the low 20's with the loss, and while everything is still in front of them as far as likely hosting and winning the Big 12, if they are going to want to make any noise in the postseason, guys are going to have to step up sooner rather than later.
"I don't know how many midweeks we end up playing, but there's certainly a concentration in general in winning conference games and going really hard in trying to be the best on the weekends in those series. Midweek baseball in general is usually a little bit lower inning count, lower pitch count, so I wouldn't say a concern. I think the best things about these midweeks is guys get the ball that didn't get it on the weekends, so they have an opportunity to grow and develop and have a chance to become stars," Sabins said.
WVU now turns their focus to this weekend, where they face Kansas State on the road for a three-game series.
"I think just losing games sucks in general. You're always trying to win games and put yourself in a situation to be the best. Tonight we weren't that," Sabins said.
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