Pitt baseball drops two of three to New Orleans

After losing the first game of a three game series with New Orleans during the weekend, the… After losing the first game of a three game series with New Orleans during the weekend, the Pitt baseball team showed some resilience in game two with a victory, but dropped game three and the series.

New Orleans 8, Pitt 7

The Privateers won the first game as the Panthers (2-3) allowed a three-run lead to evaporate in the bottom of the ninth inning.

New Orleans’ Chris Adams (4-6) started the rally by drawing a walk and eventually scored the first run of the rally on a double by Mike Forbes. The Privateers then strung together three consecutive singles by Gabe Trevizo, Brad Domreis and Mike Rohde with Forbes scoring on Trevizo’s single, making the score 7-6.

This brought Drew Piazza to the plate with the bases loaded. Piazza doubled to right center, which scored Trevizo and Domreis for the win.

Pitt fell behind 3-0 early as New Orleans pitcher Brandon King struck out seven through the first 4 2/3 innings. J.P. Martinez relieved King with two outs in the fifth as the Panthers put six runs on the scoreboard with only one of them being earned. The five unearned runs that were scored came from two errors by Rohde.

Second baseman Scott Folmar went 2-for-3 and third baseman Mike Scanzano went 2-for-4 in the loss for the Panthers.

Pitt 5, New Orleans 3

New Orleans again put the Panthers in an early deficit at the beginning of game two as it had a 2-0 lead by the end of the second inning.

Gusty winds played a role in the game as they reached 25 to 30 miles per hour. The Privateers took advantage of the weather and two errors by the Panthers. Joe Pietro reached on a throwing error by Pitt starting pitcher Nick Evangelista.

Forbes drove Pietro in when Panthers’ right fielder Brian Ruscello misplayed a ball that got caught up in the wind, which resulted in a three-base error.

Domreis tacked on another run for New Orleans with a leadoff homer in the second inning. The Panthers evened the score at two and it would stay that way until the top of the fifth inning when Michael Bell blasted a leadoff home run, putting them ahead 3-2.

Trevizo retied the game in the bottom of fifth and Pitt stormed back in the top of the sixth scoring two runs on two hits, a hit batsman and a walk.

Panthers’ shortstop Bryan Spamer and first baseman Tom Cashman collected two hits apiece in their 5-3 victory.

New Orleans 10, Pitt 0

Eight costly errors sealed the Panthers’ fate, as they were shutout 10-0 in game three.

The first four innings were scoreless, but the Privateers made plenty of noise in the next two innings. New Orleans scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with two unearned runs.

In the sixth inning things turned for the worst as Pitt yielded four runs to the Privateers and once again only two of the runs were earned. New Orleans added one run in the seventh and two more in the eighth giving it the victory by the 10-run rule.

Don Rhoten took the loss for Pitt in five innings of work. Rhoten gave up five runs with only two of them earned.

Pitt left four men on base compared to the Privateers’ 11, but Pitt had 12 hits including five extra base hits. The Panthers collected five hits with only one extra base hit, which was a double by Stuart Rykaceski.

Pitt is next in action in the Homestead Challenge Feb. 28 to March 8.