Baseball: Panthers lose close series to South Florida

Pitt baseball manager Joe Jordano switched the pitching rotation around for this past… Pitt baseball manager Joe Jordano switched the pitching rotation around for this past weekend’s series against the Big East’s top squad — the South Florida Bulls.

The Bulls entered the weekend at 8-1 in conference play and looked to remain atop the conference against the Panthers.

South Florida has four pitchers currently ranked in the top 12 for earned run average in the Big East. Heading into the weekend, this appeared to be a major problem for the Pitt offense, which struggled to come up with timely hits.

However, scoring runs wasn’t a problem for Pitt (17-17, 3-9 Big East) as it dropped two of three games against South Florida (25-12, 10-2 Big East) over the weekend.

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Jordano turned to usual third-starter Matt Wotherspoon for the opening game start on Friday night. Wotherspoon had no small task as Andrew Barbosa, second in ERA in the Big East, was on the hill for the Bulls.

The Pitt offense struck first and scored a run in the fourth and fifth innings to give Wotherspoon a two-run lead.

Elvin Soto, who walked to start the inning, scored when Sam Parente grounded into a fielder’s choice in the fourth inning.

In the next inning, Evan Oswald, who also reached on a walk, scored when Anthony DeFabio knocked a single into left field.

Jordano was pleased to see his team hit with runners in scoring position — the opposite becoming a recurring problem this season — especially against a tough pitcher.

“That was a big win. We knew coming in that they were going to be a very tough team,” said Pitt head coach Joe Jordano. “Barbosa is one of the best pitchers in the conference. We got a couple of timely hits and executed the situational at-bats.”

Wotherspoon allowed his only run in the seventh on a solo home run to left field.

“Pitching against a guy like Barbosa who has put up good numbers all year, I knew I was going to have to keep them to a pretty low score today,” Wotherspoon said. “Thankfully, we got a couple off him, and I was able to keep them to one.”

Still pitching in the ninth inning, Wotherspoon allowed a lead-off single, and the runner was sacrificed over with a bunt. Jordano made the decision with two outs remaining to put in his usual first-game starter, Matt Iannazzo.

The senior struck out the final two batters and secured a big conference win for the Panthers despite his unusual position.

“You come out throwing full throttle and give everything you have,” Iannazzo said about the different approach in a relief appearance. “My team needed me in that role today, and it worked out well. We got a big W.”

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The Pitt offense got on the board first with three runs in the first inning. DeFabio walked to start the game, advanced around the paths on an error and a wild pitch, then scored on a passed ball.

Then, doubles by Parente and Casey Roche scored Rick Devereaux and Parente, respectively.

South Florida earned a run back in the top of the second on a passed ball, but the fourth inning was the biggest of the day for both teams when the Bulls came through with four runs on three hits.

Starting pitcher Ethan Mildren was pulled by Jordano in the fifth inning after allowing five runs on 10 hits.

“I was missing a lot of locations with my pitches,” Mildren said. “I was struggling to throw my off-speed stuff for strike one and found myself falling behind in the count a lot.”

Roche doubled again in the bottom of the fourth and came around to score when Evan Oswald grounded out to the shortstop narrowing the gap to one run.

J.R. Leonardi, who earned the win earlier in the week at Akron, came in for 2.2 innings of work, allowing zero runs and no hits.

After the teams traded runs in the eighth inning, South Florida held on in the ninth to pick up the win in the second game of the series.

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For the third-straight game against the Bulls, Pitt jumped out to an early lead with two runs on three hits, including a lead-off home run by DeFabio.

The bats came through with another run in the second inning when Mike Douglas scored on an Oswald-sacrifice fly.

The Bulls plated their first run in the fourth on a solo home run, but the Panthers countered with two more in the bottom of the inning thanks to solo homers from Derik Wilson and DeFabio.

But then South Florida put together its best offensive inning.

Behind five hits, the Bulls plated five runs in the fifth inning and took the lead by a run. Iannazzo was pulled following the rough inning after surrendering six runs, five earned, walking a batter and striking out five.

Luke Novosel then pitched two scoreless innings for the Panthers, and the Pitt offense came through with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning on three hits. Soto doubled in DeFabio and eventually scored on a single through the infield by Parente.

With a one-run lead, Jordano turned to Alex Caravella for the two-out save, but he couldn’t finish off the victory.

On two hits, USF scored two runs and regained a one-run lead. The Bulls added a third run off Caravella in the top of the ninth to stretch the lead to two runs.

DeFabio started off the ninth inning for the Panthers with a double and was driven home by the next batter, Soto, on a single. With a runner on second and down a run, the Pitt offense failed to extend the game and fell by a run to the Bulls for the second time in two days.

“That was a very difficult game today. Our team played hard, but we did not finish the game,” Jordano said. “Give credit to South Florida for getting the big hits in critical situations, and they have proved why they are the first-place team in the conference.”

The Panthers visit Kent State and host Akron this week before facing rival West Virginia in conference series on the road this weekend.

“We are very frustrated as a team right now,” Jordano said. “We must learn how to win. Every series now is absolutely critical.”