Pitt opens baseball season by splitting two games with Duke

The Pitt baseball team opened its season in Durham, N.C., by splitting a weekend series with… The Pitt baseball team opened its season in Durham, N.C., by splitting a weekend series with the Duke Blue Devils.

Pitt dropped the first game by a score of 7-3, returning the next day to earn a 2-1 win over the Blue Devils. The last game of the three game series was canceled because of the weekend winter storm.

Duke 7, Pitt 3

The Panthers seemed to open their season on the right foot as Pitt jumped on Duke starting pitcher Jeff Alleva for two quick runs in the top of the first inning.

Following a walk to Pitt leadoff hitter Brian Ruscello, Bryan Spamer doubled off Alleva to give the Panthers’ runners on second and third with no outs. Then Panther left fielder Stuart Rykaceski singled in both Ruscello and Spamer to give Pitt the early 2-0 lead.

Those runs, however, would be equalized by the Blue Devils, as Duke capitalized on back-to-back walks by Pitt starting pitcher P.J. Hiser. Blue Devil seniors Brian Patrick and Troy Caradonna delivered two RBI-singles, tying the score at two.

Alleva would silence Pitt’s bats for the next three innings, giving up two runs on two hits and striking out six Panther batters in four innings.

Duke would plate another run in the bottom of the third inning, giving the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead off of a Caradonna RBI-single, scoring Adam Murray.

After Alleva headed for the showers, the Panther bats woke up in the top of the fifth inning. Pitt second basemen Scott Folmar singled, giving Rykaceski another opportunity to drive in another run. Folmar scored on Rykaceski’s third RBI of the game, as he lifted a sacrifice fly to the outfield to tie the game at three.

In the bottom half of the same inning, Caradonna struck again as Duke answered back with a sacrifice fly to take a 4-3 lead.

Pitt relief pitcher Jimmy Blue was tagged with the loss, as he surrendered three runs on four hits and walking three Duke hitters. Duke reliever Zach Schreiber earned the victory as he surrendered only one run with four strikeouts, while scattering five hits in two innings of relief work.

“I think for our first time playing outdoors this season we did a very admirable job,” head coach Joe Jordano said. “Our pitching could have been a little better and we didn’t move the baseball offensively.”

Pitt 2, Duke 1

In the second game, Pitt (1-1) rebounded behind its pitching staff, defeating the Blue Devils (3-3) by a score of 2-1.

“To win a 2-1 game against an [Atlantic Coast Conference] team at their home field was exciting,” Jordano said. “We have been adapting our personnel to be able to manufacture more runs on offense because we’re not the heavyweights we once were.”

Pitt starting pitcher Nick Evangelista tossed six solid innings of six-hit baseball for the Panthers. Evangelista registered three strikeouts and only gave up one run and two walks.

Both teams had trouble hitting as there were only 11 total hits for the game, and a total of 14 strikeouts registered between the pitchers.

Pitt once again got on the scoreboard, first tallying the first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. Folmar drove home Mike Scanzano who had reached base on an error, with a RBI-single giving Pitt the 1-0 lead.

Then in the top of the sixth, Pitt struck again when Spamer led off with his second double of the season and the only extra base hit for the Panthers in the game. Spamer would score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of first basemen Tom Cashman, extending the Panther lead to 2-0.

Duke would answer back with its only run of the game in the seventh inning when Adam Loftin knocked his third double of the season, which would spell the end of the day for Evangelista. Loftin would come in to score on an RBI-groundout by Brian Hernandez.

After Evangelista, relief pitcher Don Rhoten tossed three innings of perfect baseball allowing no hits, no runs and no walks. Rhoten notched four strikeouts and earned his first save of the season for his efforts.

For Evangelista, his performance on the mound earned him his first victory of the season as well as the first win for the Panthers. Duke starting pitcher Justin Diluc was handed the loss for his five innings of work.

The Panthers will travel to New Orleans this weekend to take on New Orleans University for a weekend three-game series.