SLIPPERY ROCK — A potential piece to the future of the Pittsburgh Pirates was on display Thursday night at Jack Critchfield Park. Unfortunately for the Slippery Rock Sliders, it came at the home team’s expense.

Jake Johansen — a 6-foot-6, 230-pound right-hander drafted in the 27th round by the Pirates on June 6 — twirled a complete game and the West Virginia offense gave him plenty of run support in a 13-4 victory over the Sliders.

Gray Stafford paced West Virginia with four of the Miners’ 19 hits, including a two-run home run, three runs scored and three RBIs.

The Sliders managed to keep the game within reach until four runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth pushed a 6-3 West Virginia advantage to a 13-3 cushion. Seven Miners recorded multiple hits and drove in at least one run.

“We had a couple of hit batters, a couple of walks and each one of those guys seemed to come around to score,” said Slippery Rock manager Shawn Pynn. “They do a good job, fundamentally, getting their guys around the bases.”

West Virginia manager Tim Epling was happy to see his Miners bust out of a recent slump.

“We’ve been kind of struggling with the bats lately,” he said. “It was just a matter of time. It was just one of those days where everything falls.”

Johansen certainly appreciated the offense.

“It was very awesome,” he said. “The bats were hot and we put some balls in play and got some great run support tonight.”

The right-hander from Dallas Baptist University scattered eight hits over nine innings of work, struck out six, walked two and hit a batter. He gave up four runs — three earned — and four of his strikeouts came in the final two innings.

“As the game kind of progressed, I got a little bit more comfortable on the mound,” said Johansen. “I was able to get ahead of hitters a little bit better than the first half of the game. In doing so, I was able to use my change-up a little better and get a few more strikeouts in the last two innings.”

A couple of Sliders to solve Johansen were left fielder Ryan Abernathy and right fielder Derek Peake. Abernathy was 2-for-4, including a solo homer over the left-field fence, while Peake went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

“We only had eight hits and four runs, but our guys had good at-bats pretty much all day for the most part, off a guy who’s a draft guy,” said Pynn. “(Johansen) throws relatively hard, but our guys did a good job not expanding the zone. They really bore down, put balls in play and did the best they could.”

Johansen needed 122 pitches to finish off the Sliders (1-2, 11-22), giving West Virginia its first complete-game effort of the season. Johansen had been working as a reliever earlier in the campaign.

“He’s been like that pretty much all year. He’s a big-time pro prospect,” said Epling. “When he came to us, they wanted to turn him into a starter. … As long as he keeps his pitches per inning down, he’s going to be pretty good.

“He’s going to have to develop a couple of things with his pitches, but he knows that,” Epling added of Johansen, whose fastball tops out at 97 mph. “He’s one of the best in the league in my judgment.”

Luis Flores started on the mound for the Sliders and allowed eight runs — six earned — over six-plus innings. He gave up 10 hits, walked three, hit two batters and struck out one.

“They had a couple of big shots, but there were quite a few that just sneaked through where our guys were diving for balls,” said Pynn. “That stuff is going to happen; part of the game.”

Josh Tinnon relieved Flores in the seventh, giving up one earned run, and Shawn Patterson allowed three earned runs in the final two frames.

The No. 3-6 hitters for West Virginia — Joe Williams, Clayton Prestridge, Stafford and Tyler Wells — combined to go 12-for-20 with eight runs scored and seven RBI. Sergio Leon, the No. 9 hitter, was 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.

“The run support definitely helps. It gave me a lot of confidence to go back out there,” said Johansen. “It was great.”

West Virginia 201 120 430 — 13 19 2

Home 010 110 010 — 4 8 1

W: Jake Johansen 9IP (6K, 2BB). L: Luis Flores 6IP (1K, 3BB).

West Virginia (1-2, 22-11): Luke Meeteer 2-1B, RBI; Bradley Strong R, RBI; Joe Williams 3-1B, 2-R; Clayton Prestridge 2-1B, 2-R, RBI; Grant Williams R; Gray Stafford HR, 3-1B, 3-R, 3-RBI; Tyler Wells 3B, 2-1B, R, 3-RBI; Matt Chavarria 2-1B, 3-R, RBI; Sergio Leon 2-2B, 1B, 2-RBI.

Slippery Rock (1-2, 11-22): Zach Looney 1B; Alex Lang RBI; Ryan Abernathy HR, 1B, 2-R, RBI; Pat Gelwicks 1B; Derek Peake 2-1B, R; Radley Haddad 1B; Jeff Revesz 1B; Dan Horlimann RBI; Drew Bryan R.

Next: West Virginia at Slippery Rock, 7:05 p.m., Jack Critchfield Park