Baseball prepares for a weekend with Canisius

Over spring break, Pitt’s baseball team notched wins in five of its eight games, improving its… Over spring break, Pitt’s baseball team notched wins in five of its eight games, improving its overall record to 7-5 on the young season, but head coach Joe Jordano could have been a bit more satisfied.

Two losses to the Temple Owls by a combined three runs left him feeling that his Panthers let two wins slip away.

“I just felt like we could have played better in a couple of those games than we did,” Jordano said.

After hanging tough with No. 7 Miami, Pitt lost the two of three games to Temple, but the Panthers exited Florida on a high note, defeating LaFayette 4-2 to end the road trip.

Now the team returns home looking to focus its attention toward a three-game series with the Canisius Golden Griffins (1-5) of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

” [Canisius] has a new coach and have put more into the team this year, so we are expecting a good baseball team to show up this weekend,” Jordano said.

The Golden Griffins are resuming play after recording their first victory of the season last week over the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Leading Canisius to its lone victory was junior infielder Matt Mazurek, who was recently named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

During the week, Mazurek posted a .500 (5-for-10) average at the plate, collecting one home run, four RBIs and scoring two runs. He currently ranks fourth in the league and first on the team in hitting with a .455 (10-for-22) average in the first six games.

Behind Mazurek in hitting on the team is Rich Ruscio. Ruscio, a sophomore outfielder, has started in four of six games this season and carries a .438 average into the series with Pitt.

Canisius, as a team, holds a .303 batting average and is capable of putting runs on the scoreboard, but its pitching hasn’t seen much success this season, allowing 10 or more runs in three of its six games.

Three pitchers have started two games each on the mound for the Golden Griffins thus far, but neither has sustained any productive outings.

The trio of Michael Rees, Mike Bax and Jordan Neufeld owns a 0-4 record, 6.75 ERA, and has struck out just 13 batters and walked 28, while allowing a .319 opponents’ batting average.

“No matter what the team coming in has been doing, we just look to play our game,” Jordano said. “We have our own approach offensively and defensively, so we’ll look to execute on all parts of our game.”

The Panthers’ pitchers, on the other hand, have enjoyed strong starts on the hill behind Billy Muldowney and Don Rhoten, with Shaun Butler closing out games, recording two saves so far.

Pitt will rely on its arms to hold off the Canisius offense while Jordano hopes to see the bats come out and take advantage of the Golden Griffins’ struggling as his team prepares for Big East competition, which begins next weekend versus Seton Hall.

“We definitely need to tighten up our game play and just keep getting better,” Jordano said. “We don’t want to peak too early, but some of the mistakes we made in Florida just won’t cut it when Big East play begins next week.”

Game one of the doubleheader on Saturday against Canisius will begin at noon with the second game to immediately follow. The third game will start Sunday at noon. All three games will take place at Trees Field.