Errors cost Pitt as South Florida takes home series

The Pitt baseball team took its six-game winning streak to South Florida over the weekend… The Pitt baseball team took its six-game winning streak to South Florida over the weekend for the start of Big East play.

The Panthers (7-10, 1-2 Big East) would drop two of three games against the Bulls (15-7, 2-1 Big East) in Clearwater, Fla.

“A couple of tough breaks here and there, and that was the difference in all three games,” Pitt head coach Joe Jordano said.

And the Panthers have nobody to blame but themselves for the tough breaks.

“We’re one of the top two or three fielding teams in the Big East. [Errors] hadn’t been an issue, but it just seems like the errors that we’re making are really hurting us,” Jordano said.

Along with sloppy play in the field, the Panthers left many runners on base throughout the weekend.

“That comes with experience and getting reps at the plate,” Jordano said about hitting with runners in scoring position.

This weekend, Pitt continues conference play and welcomes Big East foe Cincinnati to Trees Field for its first home series of the year, playing on Friday at 6 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at noon.

USF 4, Pitt 2

On Friday, the Panthers out-hit the Bulls and led most of the game, but were unable to hold on to notch their seventh straight victory.

Senior Seth Button led off the second inning with a single, but was thrown out at second when the next batter, junior Dan Williams, reached first base on a fielder’s choice. With Williams on first, junior Nick Mullins belted his first home run of the season to give the Panthers an early 2-0 advantage.

The score remained unchanged for six innings behind a strong pitching performance by junior Rob Brant. But in the bottom of the sixth, the Bulls broke through with two straight doubles, cutting the Pitt lead in half and ending Brant’s day. He pitched 5.1 innings, giving up only one earned run on five hits, while striking out five.

The Panthers then turned to sophomore Kyle Landis to hold onto the lead. Landis would pitch 2.2 innings and give up only one hit. A problem for Pitt was that one hit plus another costly error turned into three runs and a loss.

After Ty Taborelli singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth for the Bulls, he advanced to second when the next batter reached on an error by shortstop Dan Lopez.

With two runners on, South Florida’s Dexter Butler bunted. Landis fielded the ball and threw it past first baseman Seth Button, who was charged with the error, sending the ball into right field. Both runners on base scored, and Butler ended up on third. He would then score on a sacrifice fly by the next batter.

“We threw that ball away, and it cost us three runs,” Jordano said.

Pitt 5, USF 2

Opposite from Friday’s game, USF scored first, and this time, the Panthers used a late offensive surge to earn the win.

Trailing 1-0 in the top of the fourth, Pitt tied the game when sophomore Chris Warner’s slow roller down the first base line scored Morgan Kielty.

The Panthers would then jump ahead in the fifth. Freshman Jordan Herr led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a sac bunt by junior Mike Lepor. Herr would score the go-ahead run when freshman Gary Bucuren reached first on an error.

The lead didn’t last too long, though. In the bottom of the same inning, USF tied the game on a home run by Walter Diaz.

The game remained tied until the top of the ninth when Pitt exploded for three runs. With one out, Williams reached on an error, and Herr walked. Lepor then doubled in Williams for the game-winning run. Junior Sean Conley then singled in Herr and Lepor to give the Panthers five runs.

Freshman Mike Wood pitched 2.2 scoreless innings in relief of starter Paul Nardozzi. Wood didn’t allow a hit, and earned his first career victory.

USF 5, Pitt 2

The Bulls used back-to-back two-run innings in the bottom of the first and second, as well as a triple play in the fourth inning, to defeat Pitt and win the three-game series.

USF used three singles in the first inning to score its first run and added another later on a fielder’s choice.

In the second inning, the Bulls scored two runs with two outs. The bases were loaded on two straight walks and a hit batter before an error and a wild pitch gave the Bulls a 4-0 lead.

The Panthers struck back with two runs in the top of the third inning. After Lepor reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second, he scored on a single by Conley. Then, Conley scored on a triple by Bucuren. But, the Panthers would still leave two runners on base that inning.

The Panthers threatened to score in the fourth after Warner doubled and Mullins singled to lead off the inning. Then Williams grounded to the third baseman and into what started off like a routine double play. But Warner tried to score from third on that same play, and the first baseman relayed the ball to the catcher in time to complete the triple play.

Pitt wouldn’t score the rest of the game, though it had a few chances. The Panthers left eight runners on base, including three runners in the seventh and a runner in the ninth.

“When you have runners in scoring position, you’ve got to cash in,” Jordano said.