Pitching will key Panthers vs. No. 20 Miami

After dropping five out of its past six ball games, the Pitt baseball team travels down to South Florida to take on No. 20 University of Miami in a three-game conference series this weekend.

The Panthers, currently 16-16 overall and 8-7 in conference, lost two of their three games this past weekend to the top-ranked Virginia Cavaliers and fell to Akron on Wednesday, 7-5. The team is on a minor skid and hopes to correct course in the Sunshine State.

Pitt will field its top three starting pitchers in the weekend series, with Australian senior Rhys Aldenhoven (2-2, 3.52 ERA) going Friday, righty Joe Harvey (2-1, 2.41 ERA) — who pitched seven innings of two-hit ball against Virginia in the Panthers’ lone win last weekend — on Saturday and senior Matt Wotherspoon (3-4, 5.96 ERA) will start the final game Sunday afternoon.

Despite the recent lack of success for the Panthers, their pitching is not to blame, as over the past 10 contests, Pitt’s pitching staff’s ERA has been 2.74 even with a 4-6 record in that span, headlined by great recent performances by Harvey and Aldenhoven.

That Panthers’ pitching staff will have their hands full, however, with a talented Miami Hurricanes lineup, which ranks tied-for-fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in home runs. The batting order boasts talented hitters David Thompson (.328 batting average, .405 on-base percentage), Willie Abreu (.319 BA, .424 OBP), Dale Carey (.280 BA, 5 HR) and Zack Collins (6 HR, 29 RBI).

And while the ’Canes’ rotation isn’t quite as good as Virginia’s was, it still poses a formidable threesome of starters: Chris Diaz (5-0, 2.45 ERA), Andrew Suarez (4-1, 3.09 ERA) and Bryan Radziewski (2-2, 4.02 ERA).

The series marks the third-straight conference series for the Panthers against a ranked opponent, after sweeping then-No. 23 Georgia Tech and losing two of three to the No. 1 Cavaliers last weekend. Pitt, who last played the Hurricanes in 2009, is 0-3 against Miami in three matchups.

Not only does this three-game slate mark an important stretch of baseball for the struggling Panthers, but it is equally as important for Miami, as well. With an 11-4 conference record, the Hurricanes trail Virginia by only one game in the conference standings and will continue to chase the Cavaliers for that top slot.

The Friday and Saturday games start at 7 p.m., and the Sunday game is set to begin at noon.