Baseball: Season ends for Panthers at Big East tournament

The Pitt baseball team saw its season come to an end last week with back-to-back losses that… The Pitt baseball team saw its season come to an end last week with back-to-back losses that came on consecutive days.

After barely qualifying for the Big East tournament in Clearwater, Fla., following a strong finish to the regular season, the No. 8-seed Panthers faced a daunting task in the double-elimination bracket.

As the final team in the tournament, Pitt’s first matchup came against top-seeded Louisville.

Louisville 8, Pitt 4

Pitt manager Joe Jordano’s club played close with Louisville in the last series of the regular season as the Panthers picked up the win they needed to earn a rematch with the Cardinals in the Big East tournament.

With the confidence of knowing they were capable of beating the Cardinals, the Panthers headed into Wednesday’s tournament-opening game.

But Louisville’s offense struck first, off Pitt senior pitcher Matt Iannazzo, with a run in both the second and third innings. The Cardinals added two more in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.

Pitt earned one of the runs back in the fifth when freshman catcher Elvin Soto connected on a solo home run to start the inning.

And the Panthers got even closer with two runs in the seventh inning to narrow the lead to just one run. The scoring in that inning started when Soto crossed the plate following a double by sophomore outfielder Stephen Vranka, who was then driven in when senior designated hitter Anthony DeFabio singled.

DeFabio was thrown out at second to end the inning, stranding senior first baseman Rick Devereaux at the plate.

Earlier in the week, Devereaux was named First Team All-Big East, and the two other seniors, DeFabio and Iannazzo, were named Third Team All-Big East.

In the eighth inning, Jordano pulled Iannazzo from what would be his last collegiate start after the pitcher allowed a single and then balked to advance the runner to second base.

Iannazzo’s day ended with seven innings pitched, 12 hits allowed and five earned runs. The lefty also recorded four strikeouts and a walk. His career wins total of 28 leaves him at the top of Pitt’s all-time wins list.

“Being the all-time wins leader in Pitt history, that’s very special,” Jordano said. “He should be very proud of that. We’re going to miss him.”

The Cardinals took advantage of a poor showing from Pitt’s bullpen by scoring four runs in the eighth inning to put the game out of reach for the Panthers.

“It’s hard losing because I pitched well,” Iannazzo said. “We fought hard to make it close, but in the end, it wasn’t enough.”

USF 12, Pitt 5

Pitt’s season began to unravel in the third inning of an elimination game against South Florida.

With Pitt sophomore pitcher Ethan Mildren on the mound, the Bulls connected for six runs when rain forced the umpires to delay the game for more than three hours. South Florida was already up 7-0.

When the players returned to the field, Jordano put sophomore Matt Wotherspoon on the mound to try to end the trouble, but the Bulls plated two more runs to finish off an eight-run third inning that gave them an insurmountable 9-0 advantage.

The Panthers attempted a comeback in the fifth inning with four runs to cut the deficit by nearly half, but it just wasn’t enough. Pitt’s season ended with the team owning a 28-28 record.

Although Jordano will lose his best two hitters and top pitcher in seniors Devereaux, DeFabio and Iannazzo, several underclassmen stepped into big roles this season and will look to lead the team in 2013.

Devereaux’s senior campaign ended with him leading the Panthers in batting average (.372), hits (86), home runs (7), runs batted in (54), total bases (124) and slugging percentage (.537).

DeFabio led in most of the other statistics with team highs in on-base percentage (.448), runs (53), walks (31) and hit-by-pitches (17).

The two players transferred to Pitt from Duquesne two seasons ago after the Dukes’ program was canceled.

“When Rick and Anthony came over from Duquesne, it was great to give them an opportunity to play for us,” Jordano said. “They blended in so well and did such a great job for us.”

Pitt will have returning starters at every position except first base and designated hitter, with star freshmen Soto and Boo Vazquez returning after breakout years.

Also back for the Panthers will be current sophomore outfielder Casey Roche, who had the team’s fourth highest batting average (.323) this season.

“Hopefully the flashes of greatness that we showed as a team throughout the year become constant next season,” Roche said. “There’s a lot of work to be done if we want to be a contender.”