Pitt, ‘Nova both need series

With the Big East baseball tournament getting closer with every passing weekend, the Pitt… With the Big East baseball tournament getting closer with every passing weekend, the Pitt Panthers will look to get back in the hunt for a championship berth with three games at last-place Villanova this weekend.

The Panthers (12-18 overall, 3-9 Big East), who have stumbled out of the Big East gates, are within three wins of fourth-place Louisville, which currently holds the final championship berth. With a series win against Villanova (14-16, 1-9) and preferably a series sweep, the Panthers could put themselves right back in the mix with four Big East weekend series to play.

However, Panther head coach Joe Jordano doesn’t think it is time to be looking past any Big East foe.

“They are very similar to us,” Jordano said. “They have played some tough series and haven’t come out on top, but I have a great deal of respect for them. I am not so sure it is the right medicine for us right now.”

Pitt is coming off its third-straight series loss this past weekend when they dropped two of three to first-place St. John’s. The Panthers lost the first game, a game that was suspended on Friday night and resumed Saturday morning. With staff ace Billy Muldowney on the mound, the Panthers were trailing 2-1 before the rains came. However, when play picked up Saturday morning, Muldowney could not re-take the hill, and it cost the Panthers.

Pitt picked up its only win of the series on Saturday afternoon in game two before dropping game three on Sunday. The team will need a lot more of what they got on Saturday afternoon — great pitching from starter Robert Brant — if they expect to compete down the road.

Brant picked up his third win of the season and lowered his ERA to 4.13 after he went eight and one-thirds innings allowing just two hits and two runs, neither of which was earned.

Offensively, the usual suspects for the Panthers are producing for the offense. All-American Jim Negrych continues his torrid hitting with a .416 batting average and a team-leading four home runs and 26 RBIs. Shortstop Jimmy Mayer has done a solid job of setting the table for Negrych, hitting .344 with a team-high 43 hits and 30 runs scored from the second spot in the batting order.

Despite the efforts of Negrych and Mayer, the Panthers as a team find themselves at the bottom of the conference statistics when it comes to batting average.

“It has a lot to do with how they are approaching each at bat,” Jordano said of his team’s struggles at the dish. “I don’t think it is a mechanical thing, it is more going up to the plate and executing what we teach. When we do that, we are a pretty successful team offensively, but when we drift away, we tend to get fairly weak.”

The Wildcats come into the weekend losers of five of their last six games, with their only conference win coming against Rutgers back in the first weekend of April. Kris Malloy and Derek Shunk pace the Villanova offense with .363 and .358 batting averages, respectively. Jeremy Hunt has been providing the power for the Wildcats with a Big East-leading nine home runs and 32 RBIs.

Villanova’s biggest struggles have come on the mound where they have only two established starting pitchers and both are struggling. Kevin Mulvey is 2-5 with a 3.42 ERA while Mike Loree is 2-4 with a 4.47 ERA at the top of the rotation, but the picture for a third starter has been blurred all season.

Ryan Wendler got a chance to start four games for the Wildcats, but he is only 1-2 with a 7.85 ERA. Jordan Ellis has been given the ball five times to start, but he hasn’t fared any better, posting an 8.18 ERA. All of Villanova’s pitchers have combined for a 5.15 team ERA, which places them ninth in the conference.

The two teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., before finishing the series with a single game on Saturday afternoon, thus giving both teams the day off for Easter Sunday.