Baseball: Panthers show poise in comeback wins

The baseball team showed composure over the weekend when they came back to win all three games… The baseball team showed composure over the weekend when they came back to win all three games against in-state rival Villanova.

The Panthers fell behind 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning in the first game on Saturday, and the Wildcats held a 3-0 advantage heading into the seventh inning of the second game on Saturday. On Sunday, Pitt trailed 2-0 by the second inning.

But the Panthers fought back, and for the second consecutive weekend, they won a Big East weekend series at their new home at the Petersen Sports Complex. After winning two out of the three games against Notre Dame last weekend, the Panthers managed to take all three games this time as they swept the Wildcats.

“Our offense’s approach was to stay on the attack every at-bat,” senior catcher Kevan Smith wrote in an e-mail. “Obviously we were successful with that tactic and it paid off. We were prepared and determined to take this series.”

Fellow senior Phil Konieczny thinks the team can take the way it played this weekend into the rest of the season.

“The keys for us to continue to win games are to play well defensively and to put the ball in play and not strike out,” he said.

The Panthers didn’t commit any errors this weekend and only struck out seven times.

After Friday’s series opener was rained out, the teams were forced to play a doubleheader on Saturday.

A sold-out crowd showed up to the first game on Saturday as Pitt’s “First Pitch” event drew more than 2,000 spectators. All three fields at the Petersen Sports Complex saw action on Saturday with the baseball, softball and soccer teams all hosting games.

In each of the three games, falling behind seemed to wake up the Pitt bats. After trailing in the first game, Pitt exploded for a combined 14 runs throughout the next three innings, as the lineup turned a two-run deficit into a commanding 15-6 win.

“We were very patient and disciplined at the plate,” Pitt head coach Joe Jordano wrote in an e-mail. “We knew what to expect, and we were ready for it.

It took a Villanova lead to wake up Pitt in the second game of the doubleheader, as well. It took a while for the Panthers to figure out Villanova pitcher Kyle Helisek, but once they did, the floodgates opened.

Seniors John Schultz, Smith and David Chester all reached base to begin the bottom of the seventh inning, and Villanova pulled Helisek.

But the Helisek couldn’t stop the Pitt rally, and the damage wasn’t finished until Smith’s second at-bat of the inning resulted in two more Pitt runs, which made the score 7-3.

Although the Panthers were happy with the two wins on Saturday, they refused to settle for anything less than a sweep.

“We try not to let one day affect the next day, win or lose,” Jordano wrote. “We were in an identical situation against Notre Dame last weekend and had the lead late in [Sunday’s] game, but lost.”

It was pitching that made the difference in the third game.

Pitt freshman Ethan Mildren went eight innings and allowed only two runs, both of which were scored in the first, to pick up his third win of the season.

Down 2-0 in the second, Pitt scored at least one run in five straight innings. Freshman Casey Roche pounded three hits, and seniors Chester and Konieczny each drove in two runs to pace the Panthers’ offense.

The three wins move Pitt into a tie for second place in the Big East standings at 6-3 with Louisville and West Virginia. Connecticut leads the league at 7-2.

Smith shared Big East Player of the Week honors with West Virginia’s Harrison Musgrave after helping Pitt finish the week 4-1. He led the Big East with nine RBIs and seven runs while hitting .409 and earning more than one hit in four of the five games. Defensively, he didn’t commit any errors.

Smith leads the conference with a .419 batting average, while fellow senior Zach Duggan is third in the Big East with at .368. Chester is also in the top 10 in the conference in batting average, coming in at ninth with a .351 average.

As a team, Pitt is second in the conference with a .307 batting average and boasts the Big East’s best on-base percentage at .395.

The Panthers will play a game tomorrow at Penn State before traveling to Georgetown for another Big East weekend series starting on Friday.