Baseball: Pitt fails to seize opportunity to move up Big East standings

The Pitt baseball team wasted a good opportunity last weekend to jump up the Big East standings… The Pitt baseball team wasted a good opportunity last weekend to jump up the Big East standings and increase its chances of qualifying for the eight-team Big East Tournament.

Heading into their weekend series at Seton Hall, the Panthers sat one game behind Villanova for the crucial eighth-place spot in the Big East standings.

The Wildcats dropped two out of three games in their weekend series with Cincinnati, giving Pitt the chance to gain ground on Villanova.

The Panthers (26-24, 9-15 Big East) were unable to vault the Wildcats in the standings as Pitt also lost two out of its three games.

Pitt 7, Seton Hall 4

The weekend series started on Friday for the Panthers in South Orange, N.J., and Pitt picked up a big win to start the series.

An exciting first inning set the tone for Pitt as the team scored six runs on six hits.

After singling to right field, sophomore outfielder Stephen Vranka scored when senior first baseman Rick Devereaux doubled.

Freshman outfielder Boo Vazquez and junior third baseman Sam Parente then reached base to load them for sophomore outfielder Casey Roche, who tripled home all three Panthers.

Roche scored on the next at-bat when freshman catcher Elvin Soto hit a double, and sophomore shortstop Derik Wilson added another extra-base hit for Pitt with a double of his own that scored Soto for the sixth run of the inning.

With an early, big lead, senior pitcher Matt Iannazzo headed to the mound.

The Panthers got another run in the second inning when Parente scored an unearned run after a Pirates fielding error.

“The seven runs allows you to relax,” Iannazzo said, “but you have to pitch like it’s 1-0.”

Iannazzo pitched five scoreless innings before allowing three runs on three hits in the sixth inning. He continued until one out remained in the ninth inning before Pitt manager Joe Jordano pulled him in favor of Joe Harvey, who got the last out for the Panthers.

“It was a solid series for me,” Iannazzo said. “I threw well and saved our bullpen for the doubleheader.”

Seton Hall 4, Pitt 1

On Saturday, Pitt played a doubleheader against Seton Hall. In the second game of the series, the Panthers hoped to continue producing the offense that led them to Friday’s big win.

Despite picking up 10 hits, Pitt couldn’t replicate Friday’s performance, as it struggled to string the hits together in the same inning and dropped game two of the three-game set.

Seton Hall scored its first run off Pitt sophomore right-hander Ethan Mildren in the fourth inning.

Two innings later, the Pirates had a four-hit inning that produced two runs and gave them a 3-0 lead. Jordano then pulled Mildren, who finished with five strikeouts and zero walks in six innings of work.

The Panthers finally got their first run in the eighth inning when Parente singled in junior John Peluso, but Seton Hall quickly restored its three-run lead by scoring off sophomore pitcher J.R. Leonardi in the eighth inning.

Pitt attempted a comeback in the ninth when Vazquez, Evan Oswald and Ronald Sucre all recorded singles. But with the bases loaded, Vranka grounded into a game-ending double play that killed the potential rally.

Seton Hall 4, Pitt 3

The final game of the series had sophomore right-hander Matt Wotherspoon on the mound as the Panthers searched for a key win.

Seton Hall took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Pitt tied the game up in its half of the second when Soto singled in Roche.

The Pirates quickly regained their advantage when they scored another run in the bottom of the second, and the game didn’t produce any more runs until the eighth inning.

After striking out 10 batters, Jordano pulled Wotherspoon after he walked a batter.Jordano called on freshman closer Tanner Wilt, who struggled to finish the inning. The freshman gave up two hits that allowed the Pirates to take a commanding 4-1 lead.

Fighting for their playoff lives, the Panthers tried to fight back in the ninth inning.

Roche came through with a double that drove in sophomore Mike Douglas, who was running for Parente. Vazquez then scored Roche with another double to bring the score to 4-3.

“Both games finished with solid comeback attempts,” Devereaux said. “We just didn’t get the job done.”

With Vazquez on second base and only one out, Pitt failed to drive in the tying run, losing the game and the series.

“It was two tough ball games,” Jordano said of the doubleheader. “Both Seton Hall pitchers did a very nice job, as did ours. I thought Mildren did a solid job for us, and I thought Wotherspoon did a great job, as well.”

The Panthers finished the weekend one game back from Villanova in ninth place — the same standing they held going into the Seton Hall series.

Devereaux believes the Panthers still have a legitimate shot to qualify for the Big East Tournament.

“With Villanova doing what they did last weekend, it gives us a chance this weekend to still get in the tournament,” he said. “We can only control what we do and will be focused on winning our series against Louisville.”

But being behind Villanova by one game, Pitt doesn’t control its own destiny when it hosts the Cardinals in the vital season-ending series this weekend.

“It’s all coming down to this weekend,” Roche said. “Obviously, we’ll be checking on what Villanova is doing, but our main concern is winning one game at a time.”