March 21, 2008

Box Score

PITTSBURGH--The Pitt baseball team opened its Big East schedule today with a road game against rival West Virginia at Hawley Field. The Panthers fell victim to a Mountaineer offensive barrage that produce 12 runs in the first inning and simply couldn't recover to win their fourth game in five tries. Pitt dropped the contest by a count of 15-12 and fell to 6-9 on the season.

West Virginia (14-4) struck swiftly by connecting on four consecutive singles in the bottom of the first before Pitt could register its first out of the inning. Four Mountaineer batters collected two hits in the inning and scored twice, as WVU racked up 12 of its 19 hits in the first frame. When the dust settled around the base paths, the Panthers were faced with a 12-0 deficit.

Pitt charged back in the next two innings, using four walks and two hit-by-pitches to put runners on base and produce nine runs. Chris Warner (West Seneca, N.Y./University of South Carolina), Danny Lopez (Queens, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy), Dan Williams (Berwyn, Pa./Episcopal Academy) and Zach Duggan (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) all had RBI during the Pitt resurgence, while WVU pitchers Matt Yurish and Billy Gross combined to give up five unearned runs that also helped the Panthers get back in the game.

Both offenses cooled over the next three innings as the Mountaineers could only put two runners on base, one of whom got on due to a Pitt error. The Panthers did add two more runs in the top of the seventh when Lopez singled down the right field line, scoring Morgan Kielty (Burlington, Ontario/Burlington Central) and Jordan Herr (Lancaster, Pa./Delaware), but the Mountaineers answered with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning.

Senior Sean Conley (Chippewa, Pa./Blackhawk) capped the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the eighth, his sixth of the year, giving him 25 RBI this season.

Lopez and Williams both finished with three RBI for the Panthers, while Kielty crossed the plate on three separate occasions.

Nate Reed (Reading, Pa./Oley Valley) suffered the loss, his third of the year. Gross picked up the win.

Pitt and West Virginia will play again tomorrow at Hawley Field in the second of three games in Morgantown. Tomorrow's action will begin at 1 p.m.