photo by: Kevin Kinder/BlueGoldNews.com

West Virginia University’s infielder JJ Wetherholt blows a bubble between pitches during the Mountaineers’ first series of the season against the Stetson Hatters on Feb. 16, 17 and 19. Stetson and WVU split the four-game series 2-2, and Wetherholt injured his hamstring at the start of the series’ second game. He was replaced by junior college transfer Brodie Kresser, who went 3 for 14 with a home run and three RBI in the series.

MORGANTOWN — Sometimes there is no story behind the story, and so it is with the biggest news on West Virginia’s baseball team.

The Mountaineers split their opening series with Stetson, which Coach Randy Mazey admitted during a Monday ZOOM call was what you might expect right out the gate, but the biggest loss wasn’t of a ball game but a ball player.

All-American shortstop JJ Wetherholt pulled a hamstring in the first inning of the second game of a doubleheader while escaping a rundown and had to be removed.

So, what was the report on him?

“The obvious question is how is JJ?” Mazey said, anticipating his first question. “It’s too early to tell. Tests were done (Tuesday), and we’re just waiting for the results of those. We’ll take it day by day.”

So it’s up in the air whether WVU will have Wetherholt back for the weekend series at Charlotte, who also split four games in their opening series.

Wetherholt, of course, is a favorite for the NCAA’s Player of the Year award coming into this season after leading college baseball last year with a .469 average while hitting 16 home runs and stealing 36 bases.

Wetherholt played this offseason in the Cape Cod summer league and was bothered by a pulled hamstring, although Mazey declined to say if it was the same hamstring.

If Wetherholt can’t play, he will be replaced by junior college transfer Brodie Kresser, who hit .339 with 14 home runs and 87 RBI in 109 games over two seasons at Des Moines (Iowa) Area Community College.

He played in all four games at Stetson and went 3 for 14 with a home run and three RBI.

“That’s probably the plan,” Mazey said, then offered up that he’s satisfied Kresser can do an adequate job.

“Ironically, the first pitch after JJ got hurt was a ground ball to shortstop, and Kresser made a nice play. He made several nice plays during the weekend. I’m very comfortable with him there.”

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This past week St. John’s basketball coach, the veteran Rick Pitino, took off on a rant about the school’s program a two-point home loss to Seton Hall, calling his first year at St. John’s “the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime.”

That was just the start.

“We are so unathletic that we can’t guard anybody without fouling,” Pitino said. “For me, I’ve always enjoyed the first year and I’m not going to lie to you: This is the most unenjoyable experience of my lifetime. This has been so disappointing.”

Pitino didn’t just stop with the generalization. He named names.

“Look, Joel’s slow laterally, he’s not fast on the court,” Pitino said of Joel Soriano, the team’s leading scorer. “Chris Ledlum is slow laterally, Sean Conway’s slow laterally, Brady’s physically weak, Drisso is slow laterally.”

Well, West Virginia forward Quinn Slazinski played a couple of years at Iona for Pitino, so his opinion was sought out on Pitino and his bluntness.

“Frankly, I loved played for him but, the one thing about him is he knows who he is,” Slazinski said. “You can’t bat a guy down for that. The guy hates losing. He told me some of the craziest things I ever heard anyone come out of anyone’s mouth. but you have to understand why he’s doing it.”

Slazinski contacted some of the players he knew on the St. John’s team who had transferred in with Pitino and asked what had happened. He probably already knew the answer for he he’d been through it himself.

“It’s so unfortunate when you’re in that locker room, but hearing it from the outside is kind of funny,” he admitted.

Did he have one such incident he was willing to share?

“I don’t want to get in trouble, so …I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this,” he said hesitantly. “But I show these guys the video of this all the time.

He recalled a practice incident when he was at Iona.

“I didn’t box out in practice and he looks at me …

Slazinski stops for a second, speaking with an embarrassed giggle, he adds:

“I don’t know if I can say this, but out of love he said he would chop me up in seven pieces and send me back to Detroit or Houston or wherever the bleep I’m from. I could only laugh. He said ‘Are you laughing at me?’ but he knows it’s just a game. He doesn’t mean it but he likes to win.”

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Mazey, who had to shuffle his infield around this season, was particularly pleased with the defensive play in the opening series.

“We went down there and not to make any errors is probably the best defensive opening weekend we ever had,” Mazey said. “To play error-free is one thing, but to do it on grass and dirt on a field we haven’t been on is pretty impressive.”

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Closing in on the NCAA Rifle National Championships, which will be held at the Coliseum on March 8-9, with the Mountaineers looking for their 20th championship as the No. 1 seed.