Baseball: Pitt wins series against No. 7 Louisville, but falls in final game

A ninth-inning rally yesterday prevented the Pitt baseball team from claiming a weekend sweep… A ninth-inning rally yesterday prevented the Pitt baseball team from claiming a weekend sweep of No. 7 Louisville. Instead, the Panthers tied for fourth in the conference.

Pitt beat the Cardinals 8-3 on Friday and 15-5 on Saturday but dropped the series finale 9-7.

Much like the series-opening loss in Pitt’s last three-game set against Rutgers, the loss came after a ninth-inning rally by the other team.

Pitt (22-8, 6-3) led the majority of the game and took a 7-5 lead into the ninth inning, but Louisville (25-7, 6-3 Big East) put together a four-run ninth to take the victory.

“Taking two out of three isn’t the worst thing. It’s real bittersweet the way they came back, but it’s tough to sweep anyone in the Big East,” junior pitcher Corey Baker said.

“Right now, the way they came back, we can’t let that affect us,” Baker said.

Baker picked up the win for the Panthers in the opening game after he pitched seven innings, giving up three earned runs and striking out five.

“I was really doing a good job of throwing my off-speed pitches for strikes whenever I got behind in the count,” Baker said. “I did a good job keeping the ball down.”

Designated hitter Kevan Smith and catcher Cory Brownsten each went 3 for 4 with two RBIs and one run scored to provide all the offense the Panthers needed.

In the second game of the series, Pitt second baseman David Chester hit a two-run homerun in the first inning, and the Panthers never looked back on their way to an impressive 15-5 win.

The homerun by Chester was his first of twoon the day on his way to a 3 for 5 performance to go along with four RBIs. Zach Duggan went 4 for 4 with two RBIs.

The offensive output was more than enough for Pitt pitcher Matt Iannazzo to work with as he allowed four runs on nine hits in seven innings to pick up the win for the Panthers.

“It’s a big relief. It helps you relax as a pitcher,” Iannazzo said of Pitt’s strong offense in the second game. “Our offense has luckily been doing that a bunch this year for a lot of my starts. You don’t really have to press as much with a lot of run support.”

Despite yesterday’s loss, the Panthers’ series victory served notice to the rest of the league that Pitt is a serious contender.

“It just proves we can play with anyone. They’re the No. 7 team in the country, and what we’ve done so far isn’t a fluke,” Baker said. “Teams have to beat us, we’re not going to walk in and let teams run us over.”

Alex Oltmanns contributed to this report.