Baseball: Pitt sweeps St. John’s, wins 11th straight game

The new sports complex opens next spring, but if Pitt baseball keeps playing this well at… The new sports complex opens next spring, but if Pitt baseball keeps playing this well at cold, wet Trees Field, it won’t be in a hurry to move.

Starting pitchers Corey Baker, Matt Iannazzo and Nathan Hood improved their records to a combined 14-0 as the Panthers swept St. John’s in a rain-shortened series.

Pitt held the Red Storm to five runs all weekend to open the Big East schedule 3-0. The Panthers are now 18-4 on the season and winners of 11 straight.

Baker kicked off the series by allowing only one run on five hits and striking out seven batters in seven innings, and Pitt defeated the Red Storm, 4-1. He and Sunday’s starter, Hood, are now tied for second in the Big East in strikeouts.

“We are a bit thin on the mound,” Pitt head coach Joe Jordano said. “We need those guys to take us deep into ball games on the weekend. To date, they have done a great job.”

All the run support Baker needed Friday came in the first inning, when first baseman David Chester hit his first homerun of the year to give Pitt an early 2-0 lead. Chester drove in five in the three games against St. John’s.

“Chester had a very solid weekend,” Jordano said. “But I believe there were several others that did, as well — too numerous to mention them all.”

Chester would add another homerun to his total the next day when he led off the third inning with a solo homerun. Pitt routed the Red Storm 13-1, and every Panther starter scored at least one run.

Already leading 4-0 in Saturday’s game, Pitt pulled away from the Red Storm with a five-run fourth inning that ended starting pitcher Kyle Hansen’s day.

Sean Hagan entered to replace Hansen, only to walk Chester, throw a wild pitch that scored outfielder John Schultz and hit catcher Kevan Smith.

St. John’s pitchers plunked five Panthers Saturday, including Smith twice.

One of the five Panthers hit was third basemen Joe Leonard, who went 2-for-3 on the day, stole his fourth base of the year and bumped his batting average up to a team-leading .443.

With Pitt leading 9-0 in the seventh, Iannazzo made his only mistake of the afternoon and surrendered a solo homerun to St. John’s Jeremy Baltz. Iannazzo, though, struck out Jimmy Parque and Joe Panik, the Red Storm’s two best hitters, three times on the day.

Iannazzo struck out six in the game to earn his fourth win of the year.

Rain held off long enough Saturday, but Mother Nature wasn’t so kind to St. John’s on Sunday, as Pitt won, 5-3, in a weather-shortened game of seven innings.

Heavy rain starting falling around 1:30 p.m., and the game was delayed for almost a half hour before the games was called final.

“The weather affected Sunday’s game in a big way,” Jordano said. “We had a steady rain for most of the game, but after the top of the seventh the field was just not playable.”

Before the rain, though, Pitt jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the third inning when pitching mistakes again haunted St. John’s. Matt Carasiti walked three Panthers to load the bases before throwing a wild pitch that allowed outfielder Zach Duggan to score. Chester then drove in Danny Lopez to make it 2-0.

Lopez now leads the conference with 37 runs scored, six more than any other Big East player.

Carasiti was pulled, but Stephen Rivera continued what his teammate began. Rivera, too, threw a wild pitch and walked a batter to again load the bases. A fielder’s choice that scored Leonard and a Sean Toole fly-out ended the inning, but not before the Panthers scored three runs on one hit, four walks and three wild pitches.

With Pitt up 5-1 after six, St. John’s tried to claw back in the game. The Red Storm loaded the bases against relief pitcher Cole Taylor before Ray Black entered the contest to stop the rally. Pitt traded two runs for two outs on fielder’s choices and escaped the inning still up two.

What stopped St. John’s rally for good, though, was the weather. The Red Storm never returned to the plate because the game was called in the bottom of the seventh.

“The Red Storm is always at the top of the league,” Jordano said. “So for us to win the series was a great accomplishment for our program.”

The victory gave the Panthers yet another home win. They are now a perfect 5-0 at home despite Sunday’s bad weather.

Pitt, though, travels to Piscataway, N.J., to begin a three-game series at Rutgers starting Thursday afternoon. The forecast: 72 degrees and sunny.