Takeaways | Pitt baseball shows room for improvement in home opener loss to Bucknell

Thursday afternoon, Pitt baseball (5-2, ACC 0-0) hosted its home opener at Charles L. Cost Field but fell 7-3 to Bucknell (4-3, Patriot League 0-0). 

After starting the season with a promising 5-0 record and sweeping Eastern Michigan in their opening weekend series, the Panthers have dropped two games in a row and show significant room for improvement if they hope to challenge the talented ACC field this spring. 

Opportunities left on base

The Panthers struggled to build momentum at the plate on Tuesday, finishing the second, fourth and fifth innings with three runners left on base. 

“I thought we missed some opportunities early in the game,” Pitt head coach Mike Bell said of the stranded runners. “Credit to [Bucknell] and their pitching staff on pitching out of jams, making big pitches and big moments.” 

In the bottom of the fourth, junior shortstop Caden Dulin kicked things off with a double down the left field line and advanced to third on a groundout. Bases were loaded with just one out after he was joined by senior first baseman Luke Cantwell off of a walk and sophomore third baseman Ryan Zuckerman, who was hit by a pitch. But consecutive strikeouts sent the Panthers back out to the field with no runs added to the scoreboard. 

It was a similar story in the fifth, when a solo home run from senior catcher Jayden Melendez brought life to the Pittsburgh dugout, followed by a combination of walks and hit-by pitches, which crowded the bases for only one run driven in — a ground ball fielder’s choice from Cantwell. 

At the plate, Pitt was 0-11 with runners in scoring position and 0-5 with the bases loaded, not enough to keep up with its opponent on the scoreboard. 

Too many strikeouts

All afternoon, Pitt struggled to get the bats going, batting a combined .118 and ending the night with just four hits and 17 strikeouts. 

“Our ability not to put the ball in play,” Bell said on an area of improvement for the Panthers. “I think we struck out … was it 17 times? It’s a lot of strikeouts. That ability of not putting the ball in play, not forcing them to make those plays, kind of hurt us throughout the game.”

It’s still early in the season with plenty of time for the Panthers to warm up the bats, but Pitt certainly won’t compete with its opponents if Tuesday night’s struggles continue. 

Testing the bullpen

Bell tested seven pitchers during the midweek matchup, starting with right-handed sophomore Aidan Coleman who threw 2.1 innings with two hits, two runs and two walks while shutting down three batters. 

“There was going to be a lot of guys being used today,” Bell said. “Ideally, you’d like it to be in clean situations, clean innings. Some of that just wasn’t the form today where we had to bail out a couple guys.”

Junior reliever Matt Porter got the Panthers out of a jam with two runners on in the fourth, finishing the inning and pitching one more to strike out three of four batters. Pitt first-year Antonio Doganiero also posted a promising outing, throwing a scoreless ninth inning for Pitt and logging one strikeout in his college debut. 

With room for improvement, the Panthers’ pitchers combined for two hit-by pitches, nine walks and eleven strikeouts, logging a 56.6 strike percentage. They also committed two balks in crucial moments of the sixth and seventh innings, handing the Bison two free runs. 

Time to stack wins

Though the season is long, with 55 games slated for Pitt this spring, these early-season series and midweek matchups will prove to be the deciding factor when it comes to seeding and the chance to secure a bye in the ACC tournament. 

With weekend series against No. 5 North Carolina, No. 10 Virginia, No. 12 Wake Forest, No. 13 Clemson and No. 17 Duke on the horizon in ACC play later this spring, it’s time for the Panthers to stack wins in nonconference games. 

Pitt’s next opportunity comes this weekend in North Carolina, where the Panthers are set to take on UNC Greensboro (4-3, SoCon 0-0). The Spartans recently beat Virginia Tech and shut out then-No. 13 Wake Forest, showing their ability to hang with Pitt’s conference foes. The Panthers look to jump back to the win column, with the first game set for 4 p.m. on Friday.