Panthers get back on track with sweep of Villanova

The Pitt baseball team has been in desperate need of Big East conference wins lately and… The Pitt baseball team has been in desperate need of Big East conference wins lately and a sweep during the weekend was exactly want it wanted.

The Panthers (25-11 overall, 7-6 Big East) hosted Villanova last weekend in a meaningful conference series. Pitt was unstoppable, defeating the Wildcats by large margins in all three games.

Pitt 9, Villanova 2

Pitt set the tone for the entire series in the first inning of game one of Saturday’s doubleheader. By sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning, the Panthers were able to jump out to an early 4-0 lead.

Bryan Spamer helped boost the Panthers lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the fourth inning and by the end of the fourth, the Pitt lead was 8-0.

Villanova (7-20, 2-10) showed signs of life at the plate with a two-run homerun by Brian Newbold in the fifth inning, cutting the lead to 8-2.

But the Panthers were too much with Nick Evangelista on the mound. Evangelista would not allow another run, pitching a complete game for Pitt and increasing his record to 7-2.

The Panthers scored a meaningless run on a wild pitch late in the game to end with a 9-2 victory.

Pitt 7, Villanova 1

It took the Panthers a little while longer to score in the second game of the doubleheader, but once again they struck first with their bats to get the opening lead and never looked back.

Stuart Rykaceski put Pitt on the board first with an RBI double in the bottom of the third inning. Joe Burger added two more runs in the inning with a single to center field.

Burger singled again in the fifth inning to bring home another run and increase the Panthers lead to 5-0.

The Wildcats scored a lone run in their half of the sixth inning, but that was all they could handle.

Joe Engel was credited with the win, pitching a five innings with no runs on four hits. Pitt added a pair of insurance runs late in the game to secure the win for Engel as the Panthers hung on to win 7-1.

Pitt 10, Villanova 5

This time it was the Wildcats who struck first in the final game of the series Sunday. After three consecutive singles in the top of the second inning, Villanova jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.

The Panthers provided an immediate response however, with a rally of their own in the bottom of the inning. After a leadoff walk by Spamer, Pitt sent 10 batters to the plate, earning six runs on six hits.

Villanova cut the lead to 6-4 in the fourth inning when Newbold hit his second homerun of the series.

Tom Cashman and Spamer hit back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the fourth to rebuild the lead back to four runs at 8-4. Cashman, who totaled five hits in the series, is currently on a 10-game hitting streak.

The Wildcats earned another run in the fifth inning, before Jimmy Blue relieved Jeff Barnyak on the mound for Pitt. Blue, who allowed no runs and no hits in three innings, picked up the win for Pitt.

The sweep over Villanova gives Pitt 25 wins on the season and more importantly puts it over the .500 mark in conference play.

Everything seemed to go their way in this series as the Panthers outscored the Wildcats 26-8. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the Panthers lately is their hitting, which gives head coach Joe Jordano confidence for the remainder of the season.

“Our hitting today and yesterday was tremendous,” Jordano said. “We did a great job this weekend.”

Pitt will host Ohio University Tuesday afternoon in a nonconference matchup. The game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at Trees Field.