Baseball: Panthers working hard in their off-season

The Phillies and Yankees aren’t the only teams playing baseball right now. The Pitt baseball team has been working hard in its off-season workouts this fall.

The workouts are designed to introduce team concepts to new players while solidifying them in returning players. In addition, every player continues to work on team offensive and defensive philosophies, as well as base running.

The team plays in intersquad scrimmages on Mondays, while Wednesdays and Fridays are scheduled to mimic pregame routines that the team will have during the season. This will culminate in the team’s version of the World Series.

“We end the fall segment with our Navy vs. Gold World Series,” coach Joe Jordano said. “This is simply a best of three series between teams that are selected by the coaches.”

The Panthers had a successful season in the spring, when they finished 28-21 overall after being picked to finish 11th out of 12 teams in the Big East. Their season ended with consecutive losses to South Florida and West Virginia in the conference tournament.

Over the course of the semester, the team also has a strongman competition where the players compete in rigorous physical events.

“Our strength coach, Tim Beltz, does an outstanding job in challenging our players and keeping the workouts both tough and competitive,” Jordano said.

The fall semester is also designed to help each player work on individual parts of his game. Every player has an individual workout, during which coaches help with a specific off-season regimen.

Jordano said he feels that several players have had a strong off-season.

“I thought several players stood out this fall,” he said. “It would be unfair to begin naming individual players since the whole thought process of the fall is focused on the team, and quite frankly, there were several players that did a great job for us.”

When the team returns from winter break in January, it will participate in its “Champions’ Challenge” — two weeks of various physical tasks that take place everyday at 6 a.m.

All of this is permitted by the NCAA, and the team will continue to work out until its first day of practice on Feb. 1 before the season opener against Wofford on Feb. 19.