Baseball drops two of three to UConn

The Pitt baseball team entered its three-game series against UConn last weekend, hoping to… The Pitt baseball team entered its three-game series against UConn last weekend, hoping to remain atop the Big East Conference. But after dropping two of three games to the Huskies, the Panthers missed a golden opportunity to lock up a spot at the Big East Tournament.

Pitt (36-14, 16-7) is currently in second place in the Big East with only a series against St. John’s to complete this weekend before wrapping up its regular season.

The Big East’s current playoff picture is murky at best. With four teams vying for the three remaining playoff spots, head coach Joe Jordano knows that his team will have to perform well this weekend when the Red Storm comes to town.

“We’ve got some work to do,” Jordano said. “We’ve got to come back hard in this last weekend and, as it’s been in the last few years for us, the last weekend will determine whether we go to the playoffs or not.”

“We’ll take it one game at a time,” Jordano continued. “St. John’s is a great baseball team. They’ve got a great pitching staff and they swing the bats. We’ll leave everything on the field next weekend.”

The Panthers were originally scheduled to play UConn Saturday in a doubleheader, but inclement weather forced the two teams to play the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader Sunday.

UConn 3, Pitt 1

The Panthers’ seven-game winning streak was snapped on Saturday, as the Huskies’ Marc Peluso hit a two-run home run in the third inning, giving his team all the run support it needed to come away with the win.

Pitt failed to score a single run until the bottom of the last inning, when it nearly rallied to pull off the win. After loading the bases, P.J. Hiser hit a deep fly ball that allowed David Cline to score from third.

The Panthers had the tying run at second base after Bryan Spamer advanced on a wild pitch, but Tom Cashman’s fly out ended the comeback.

The loss knocked Pitt out of first place, but Jordano knows that’s just the nature of the Big East Conference.

“The conference is so competitive that you can go from first place to fifth place in a weekend,” Jordano said.

Pitt 5, UConn 2

The Panthers pulled out the big bats Sunday, hitting three home runs on their way to a victory.

Pitt got the scoring started in the second inning when Mike Scanzano hit an RBI double. Later in that same inning, Cline increased Pitt’s lead to two when he hit a single that allowed Scanzano to reach home plate.

UConn picked up a run in the third inning, but the Panthers answered right back when Jim Negrych hit his seventh home run of the season, making the score 3-2.

Solo home runs by Cashman and Alex Rybczak rounded out the scoring. Andrew Kuss picked up his fourth win of the season for Pitt, pitching four and one-third innings and striking out four batters.

UConn 6, Pitt 2

Breaking three offensive records in a game is impressive; to do it in an inning is unbelievable. But that’s just what the Panthers did Sunday in their nightcap against the Huskies.

It all started in the bottom of the first inning when Spamer picked up his 238th career hit, which broke Pitt’s career-hits record. Spamer accredits his success to all the extra work he puts in with the Panthers’ hitting coach.

“I’m always working as hard as I can,” Spamer said. “My hitting coach [Joel Dombkowski] works with me all the time. You have to get your work in, and Coach Dombkowski has really been the biggest difference for me.”

Hiser followed up Spamer’s record by hitting his 20th home run of the season, which broke the school’s single-season home run record. It was a great moment for Hiser, who was starting to feel some of the extra stress that comes with being on the doorstep of making history.

“It was good to get the record out of the way,” Hiser said. “It just took a lot of the pressure off of me. Now I can just go back to my old hitting ways and just see the ball and hit it.”

Negrych got in on the record breaking when he belted his 19th double of the season, breaking Pitt’s single-season record for doubles. But despite all of the records being broken, all the Panthers had to show for it was a 2-1 lead.

Hiser entered the game with a perfect 5-0 record on the mound, but struggled on this day, and was pulled after just one and one-third innings.

“I was falling behind in the count,” Hiser said. “When you fall behind in the count, you don’t get the calls that you need, and it was just not a good day on the mound.”

UConn’s Larry Day provided all of the offensive firepower the Huskies needed to put the Panthers away. Day finished with four RBIs and one run scored.

The Panthers finish up their season this weekend at Trees Field against St. John’s. Game one is scheduled to begin on Saturday at 12 p.m.