Baseball season swings end

The difference between success and failure is often a matter of inches. The slightest… The difference between success and failure is often a matter of inches. The slightest inconsistencies from day to day can turn a baseball season from promising to frustrating — flourishing to underachieving.

Pitt’s head baseball coach Joe Jordano knows that.

“I know the expectation for our program is a lot higher for what we accomplished,” Jordano said. “There’s a very fine line in terms of margin of error.

“It was a frustrating season.”

The roller coaster that was the Panthers’ season ended with a dip on Saturday when the visiting Georgetown Hoyas edged Pitt out of the Big East Tournament and off the field until the weather breaks next spring.

The Panthers (23-29, 10-17 Big East) won the previous two games of the series, but needed the sweep and a little help from West Virginia to qualify for the conference tournament’s eighth and final spot.

They got neither.

“It was a very competitive year when you look at the one-run losses, especially within the conference,” Jordano said.

As if symbolic of the entire year, the Panthers dropped their final game by one run — a game they were leading 7-2 at one point.

“I think [that] game was really a microcosm of our entire season,” Jordano claimed. “We have two outs, one man on and the next thing you know it’s a grand slam. Then…[their] kid makes a fantastic play and that’s the ballgame.

“A couple of inches either way and we’re in a lot better shape.”

Despite the frustration, their coach believes the Panthers have a lot to look forward to.

“I mean we had four, five, six freshmen in the lineup every day,” Jordano said. “There were some good things there to work on for next year.

“It was disappointing but I think there were a lot of things we can look back upon and feel pretty good about.”

Pitt 14, Georgetown 0

If there was anything over the weekend series that Jordano and the rest of the team can look favorably upon, it would be junior right-hander Billy Muldowney’s starting performance against the Hoyas on Thursday.

Muldowney (5-4) struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight innings to keep Georgetown scoreless before Justin Cicatello closed things out in the ninth. The two combined to keep the Hoyas scoreless on only two hits for the night.

As if the pitching wasn’t even close to what it was, the Pitt offense was almost as impressive as its starting hurler, if not more.

The bats ignited in the bottom of the second inning when senior outfielder David Cline blasted his second home run of the year to score three after Morgan Kielty scored on a Dan Williams groundout to make it 4-0.

Kielty was at it again in the next inning, driving in Jimmy Mayer and then scoring when Seth Button blasted his eighth homer of the year to extend the Panther lead to seven.

In the bottom of the fifth, it was Kielty crossing the plate yet again when Peter Parise knocked his fourth homer of the season to put Pitt ahead even further. The Panthers would add five more runs over the next four innings.

Muldowney’s final start of the year brought his season strikeout total to 99. There have only been two Panthers in history to strike out 100 in a single season. Nevertheless, Muldowney, with 188 career strikeouts, ranks second in Pitt’s all-time strikeout leaders category behind Dave Welty with 238.

Pitt 3, Georgetown 2

The win wasn’t nearly as easy as the night before, but Friday afternoon’s victory for the Panthers was impressive nonetheless.

Pitt earned its fourth win in a row and kept the sliver of Big East Tournament hope alive with its first extra-inning victory of the year, thanks to Sean Conley’s game-winning double in the 10th inning.

With the score knotted at two, Williams was hit by Georgetown pitcher Dan Kennedy and reached first base for the fifth time in as many tries. After Cline bunted Williams over to second, Conley roped Kennedy’s first pitch into left-center field, bringing home both Williams and the win.

Conley’s heroics wouldn’t have even been possible had it not been for Parise in the bottom of the ninth, who doubled to score Jim Negrych and tie the game to force extra innings.

Pitt’s starter Rob Brant allowed just three hits in 6.2 innings, but two runs because of a walk and two wild pitches in the top of the third, scoring Georgetown’s only two runs of the game.

Pitt was winless in its first five extra-inning games of the season before Friday.

Georgetown 8, Pitt 7

Nobody is perfect. If there is anyone who knows the harsh reality it’s Pitt, especially with the way it dropped its final game of the season in a somewhat symbolic fashion.

All was well after the first three innings. Pitt’s starting pitcher Paul Nardozzi began his school-record 38th career start with style, striking out five in three perfect innings of work.

After Nardozzi faltered somewhat in giving up two runs in the fourth, the Panthers forgave him, getting the two runs back and then some, lengthening their lead to 7-2 after five.

Then it came crashing down.

Georgetown’s Mark McLaughlin hit a grand slam off Nardozzi, his second home run off the junior right-hander in as many innings. After a deep RBI double, the Hoyas had tied the score.

The next inning, Nardozzi was pulled for freshman Ryan Dunford who gave up only one hit in the next four innings. That hit, however, was Georgetown’s (24-32, 10-17) game-winning home run in the eighth.

Even with a victory, the Panthers would not have qualified for the conference tournament. West Virginia needed to beat South Florida for Pitt to move into the eighth and final tournament position, but lost 9-4. The Bulls claimed the last spot.