Baseball drops Vikings

The Pitt baseball team’s bats were hot on the otherwise cold Trees Field Wednesday night…. The Pitt baseball team’s bats were hot on the otherwise cold Trees Field Wednesday night. Although it was dark, the Panthers were able to perfectly see the ball.

En route to their 12-5 victory over Cleveland State, the Panthers recorded a season-best 18 hits to improve to 16-16 on the year. The hits came mostly from a group of four guys who treated the Cleveland State pitchers like a staff of little leaguers.

Sean Conley, Gary Bucuren, Matt Litzinger and Danny Lopez all went 3-for-5 to lead the Panthers’ hitting display against the Vikings. The Cleveland State hurlers attempted to mix up their pitching sequences but failed to fool the Panthers.

After Pitt held the Vikings to a scoreless first, the Panther bats wasted no time going to work as the first four batters reached base.

Conley sparked the rally with a double to leadoff the game for Pitt. He wasn’t stranded very long, as designated hitter Peter Praise followed with a shot to center to bring him home.

After Gary Bucuren grounded into a fielder’s choice in the same inning, catcher Morgan Kielty poked one deep enough to center to move Bucuren over to third with only one out.

With two speedy players on board, coach Joseph Jordano gave Kielty the sign to steal. Cleveland State could’ve either tried to get Kielty out and risk Bucuren scoring or not even throw down to second to prevent the run.

The decision worked flawlessly and Bucuren was able to score when the catcher threw to second base. The throw from the catcher was off-target and Kielty slid in safely at second.

An error by the Cleveland State second basemen then scored Kielty and extended the lead to 3-0. A base running mistake on the following play ended the inning and seemed to set the tone for the Panthers for the next four innings.

The Vikings got one back in the third when John Westra scored from third on a throwing error by Pitt second basemen Dan Williams to cut the deficit to two.

Pitt starter Ben Knuth began to show some fatigue in the fifth inning, and his wild pitch that sent a runner into scoring position was the start of a productive inning for the Vikings. Back-to-back RBI singles by Rich Ranells and Josh Geric evened the score and a runner remained on third with only one out.

A weak grounder to first was enough to bring in the runner from third and the Panther lead was dissipated into thin air. Cleveland State added another run off of a homer in the sixth, and the Panthers trailed, 5-3.

It appeared as if the Panthers’scoring woes would continue in the sixth when after a pair of singles the second out was earned. However, Litzinger capitalized on an error by the first basemen and scored to cut the lead to one.

The Panther bullpen then showed up in the clutch when Cleveland State loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. Senior Peter Parise came in to the game for reliever Bobby Bell and fanned down the next two batters to escape scoreless from the inning.

Parise’s performance at the mound proved to be the spark the team needed to take home the victory. “I felt really good about Peter Parise’s pitching performance,” Jordano said in a release. “We wanted to get him ready for a significant roll out of the bullpen.”

Junior Gary Bucuren stepped up to the plate to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning and belted a 2-1 fastball over the fence in center to tie the game. The blast was Bucuren’s fifth of the year.

Litzinger started another rally in the inning when he poked one to center to reach first. After Williams walked, a single by Lopez brought home Litzinger, and Pitt had regained the lead. Viking reliever Michael Babin then surrendered his second walk of the inning to Herr and Conley followed with a base knock to center to score two runs and extend the lead to three. With Herr on third and Conley on first, Pitt once again played mind games with the Cleveland State catcher and gave Conley the sign to steal.

The catcher threw down to second again, but the throw went past the base and into the outfield. This allowed Herr to score easily and Conley to get to third. An eventual second error on the day by the third basemen allowed Conley to score the Panthers’ final run of the inning.

The Panthers, up 10-5 after a six-run seventh, completed their scoring in the eighth off of a double by Williams and another RBI single from Lopez.

Parise’s seventh-inninghyphenateCS heroics carried into the final two innings as he allowed only one on base in the final two. In 2 2/3 innings of work he allowed only one hit and recorded four strikeouts.

Although Pitt hit well in the contest, it left 10 runners stranded in the game and suffered a bad mental lapse in the middle innings. Jordano was upset with the lapse but in the end was happy with how the team battled back and didn’t fold when they blew the lead.

“The team responded well and I’m happy with the way they turned the game around,” Jordano added in the release. “This was a very competitive, well-coached team that we played today.”

The Panthers will play next against Big East opponent Villanova in a three game series starting this Friday at Trees Field.