Panthers sweep Notre Dame

The Pitt baseball team used strong starting pitching and small ball to take two games from… The Pitt baseball team used strong starting pitching and small ball to take two games from Notre Dame over the weekend.

The Panthers (11-12, 5-3 Big East) hosted the Fighting Irish at Trees Field and defeated the defending Big East champions 4-2 on Friday and 5-0 on Saturday. Sunday’s game was canceled because of inclement weather.

Junior Rob Brant started Friday’s game for the Panthers and held Notre Dame hitless for five innings. After letting the first two men on base, Brant recorded 15 consecutive outs.

“Tonight was a very impressive effort by Rob Brant,” Pitt head coach Joseph Jordano told pittsburghpanthers.com. “We really felt good with him out there on the mound.”

Sean Conley had four hits and scored two runs for Pitt.

Saturday, senior Paul Nardozzi recorded the Panthers’ second-consecutive superb pitching performance, his second straight impressive outing, pitching a complete-game shutout.

“Paul’s performance was outstanding,” Jordano said. “He executed everything we talked about. He minimized Notre Dame’s opportunities and did a solid job of giving us a chance.”

The offense backed another strong pitching performance. Four Panthers had two hits, including home runs from Seth Button and Dan Williams.

The Panthers play Youngstown State April 4 at Trees Field, then head to Kentucky for a three-game series against Big East-rival Louisville Thursday.

Pitt 4, Notre Dame 2

Brant had a rough start to the game before settling down. Back-to-back errors put the first two Notre Dame batters on base with no outs. Brant calmed down, escaping the jam with two strikeouts and a ground out.

Starting things off in the bottom of the first for Pitt, Conley hit a leadoff double. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior Peter Parise. Freshman Gary Bucuren was hit by a pitch to put runners on the corners.

Conley then scored on a fielder’s choice to the first baseman by Morgan Kielty.

As Brant cruised, the Panthers threatened to score again in the third.

Singles by Conley and Parise put two Pitt runners on base with one out.

Bucuren reached on a fielder’s choice to the third basemen, who then made an error, allowing Parise to advance to third and Bucuren to end up on second.

On the fielder’s choice, Conley was forced out at third. But Kielty flew out to end the inning.

In the fifth inning the Panthers cashed in on their base runners to extend their lead.

Freshman Jordan Herr walked and advanced to second on a bunt by Conley, who beat the throw for his third hit of the day.

Herr was picked off by the catcher taking too big a lead from second. Parise then walked to put two runners on base for Pitt, and Bucuren singled in Conley to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead.

Parise advanced to third on the Bucuren single. Then Bucuren stole second to put two runners in scoring position.

Kielty doubled in both batters to give him three RBIs for the game.

“We came through tonight offensively,” Jordano said.

The Fighting Irish answered back in the next inning with their only two runs of the game.

With the bases loaded and one out, a double scored two for Notre Dame. The runner on first tried to score as well, but a good relay between Herr in center, second baseman Williams and catcher Nick Mullins kept the lead at 5-3.

The next batter flew out center to end the inning.

With one out in the eighth, Pitt took Brant out in favor of closer Kyle Landis, who holds a conference-low 0.33 ERA.

Landis earned the save for Pitt, pitching the last 1 2/3 innings, giving up only one hit and striking out four.

Pitt 5, Notre Dame 0

Both teams were scoreless heading into the bottom of the third when the Panthers broke through for a run.

Conley led off with a single and then stole second. After his four hits a day earlier, the junior would go 2 for 3 in Saturday’s game.

After advancing to third on a sacrifice fly by Parise, Conley scored on another sacrifice fly, this one by Bucuren.

In the next inning, Williams started things off by blasting his first home run of the year over the fence in left-center field.

Pitt added another run via the long ball when Button cleared the fence in dead center in the fifth inning.

It was his team-leading fourth homer of the season.

The Panthers added their last two runs of the game in the sixth inning.

Mullins was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and advanced to second when freshman Dan Lopez reached on an error by the pitcher.

A well-placed bunt by Herr loaded the bases with no outs.

Pitt tried to score on a suicide squeeze, but it didn’t quite work out. Conley missed the pitch, leaving Mullins halfway to the plate with nowhere to go. He was tagged out, but the other runners both advanced one base.

Conley bounced back and singled in Lopez.

Notre Dame tried to pick off Conley at first, but the pitcher threw the ball away, allowing Herr to score and Conley to reach second base. Two straight strikeouts ended the inning.

The Fighting Irish were completely dominated by Nardozzi throughout the game. He went all nine innings, allowing only two hits and two walks. He struck out nine batters.

It was his second-straight complete-game shutout, after pitching seven scoreless innings last weekend against Cincinnati.

“Being able to throw back-to-back shutouts at Trees Field is phenomenal,” Jordano said.