Nardozzi, Cicatello combine to shut out Rollins

The Panther baseball team took their annual spring break trip to Florida to participate in… The Panther baseball team took their annual spring break trip to Florida to participate in Rollins College Baseball Week. The Panthers finished with a 6-4 record after some inconsistent and streaky play.

Pitt (8-7) opened the week by losing a pair of games to Boston College, only to later sweep games from St. Joseph’s and Sacred Heart. In between, the Panthers shut out Rollins College and were shut out by Bethune-Cookman.

Boston College 6, Pitt 5 (10 innings)

For the third time on the young season, the Panthers once again found the confines of extra inning play unfriendly. And for the second time this season, a Panther pitcher balked in the game-winning run.

Relief pitcher Mike Bassage balked in the bottom of the 10th, allowing the winning run to score, handing the Panthers their first loss of their trip south.

The Panthers started the scoring in the top of the second when Morgan Kielty doubled and later scored on Jeff Stevens’ first home run of the season. A Boston College error allowed another Panther run to score in the top of the second for a 3-0 Pitt lead.

Boston College answered with two unearned runs in the sixth and three more runs in the seventh to take the lead. Panther starting pitcher Billy Muldowney was cruising into the sixth, but the two unearned runs chased him. For the game, he allowed seven hits and struck out seven batters.

Kyle Landis allowed three runs in the bottom of the seventh to give the Eagles a 5-3 lead, but the Panther bats picked up the slack. In the top of the ninth, Stevens doubled down the left-field line, Dan Williams walked and was replaced by pinch runner Brian Muldowney. Edgar Sucre then reached on an error to load the bases before Seth Button drove in Stevens with a sacrifice fly. Muldowney would later score on another Boston College error to tie the game at 5-5.

In the bottom of the 10th, Justin Cicatello hit a batter before being replaced by Bassage, who promptly threw away a pick-off attempt, allowing the runner to move to third. Bassage then balked the winning run in for the Eagles.

Pitt 4, Rollins College 0

Paul Nardozzi continued his lights-out start to the 2006 season, lasting seven and one-third innings of shutout baseball en route to the Panthers’ victory over host Rollins College.

Nardozzi, who is third in the Panthers’ starting pitching rotation, moved to 2-1 on the season after just three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. Justin Cicatello closed out the shutout for the Panthers.

The Panthers got on the scoreboard during their first plate appearance of the game. Brian Muldowney singled to left and Jimmy Mayer followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second. Jim Negrych then followed suit with another base hit, scoring Muldowney and giving Negrych 11 RBIs on the season.

The Panthers added another run in the sixth when Stevens singled and moved to second on a throwing error before coming around to score on Sean Conley’s base hit.

In the eighth, the Panthers added two more insurance runs. After Peter Parise got things going with a double, Kielty walked and was replaced by Eric Chamness on the base paths. Button then loaded the bases with a single, and Parise scored when Stevens grounded into a double play. With two outs, Conley drove in his second run of the game with a single that scored Chamness.

Notes-The Panthers are back in action this weekend when they open Big East play at Seton Hall in New Jersey-Through 15 games the Panthers have four regulars hitting above .300: Mayer (.375), Williams (.314), Negrych (.311) and Parise (.306)-Seth Button leads the team with three home runs while Williams’ 14 RBIs are best-Nardozzi is 3-1 with an outstanding 1.20 ERA, allowing just four earned runs in 30 innings-Cicatello is the Panthers’ top reliever with a 0.63 ERA, allowing just one earned run in more than 14 innings of work-