Pittsburgh Splits Twinbill With West Virginia
5/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Pittsburgh Splits Twinbill With West Virginia
5/13/2002
PITTSBURGH-In a crucial Big East Conference doubleheader on Saturday at West Virginia, the University of Pittsburgh baseball team dropped the first game, 16-6, before rebounding to capture the nightcap, 12-9. The Panthers, who sit in fifth place in the conference and are tied with Connecticut, are 12-10 in conference action and 32-15-1 overall. The 12 Big East wins break a school record while the 32 victories are the most in Head Coach Joe Jordano's five years at Pittsburgh and the most since the team won 39 games in 1995.
In the opener, the Panthers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning, but fell apart quickly. The Mountaineers plated five runs in the first inning, one in the second and five more in the third to grab an 11-5 advantage. Pittsburgh cut the lead to 11-6 in the fifth inning, but West Virginia added two more runs in the fifth and another three in the sixth to win the first game.
Tony Railing (Highland Village, Texas/F.M. Marcus) and Rolando Bello (Miami, Fla./Nova Southeastern) each pounded out two hits to lead the team, while Brad Rea (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) and Michael Bell (Baldwin, Pa./Baldwin) knocked in two runs apiece.
Eric Ackerman (Denver, Pa./Cocalico) started the game and lasted just two-thirds of an inning. However, Jimmy Blue (Washington, Pa./Trinity) came on to pitch the next 1.2 innings and suffered the loss, giving up six runs on five hits.
In the second game, Pittsburgh fell behind 2-1 before erupting for eight runs in the fifth inning. Scott Folmar (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) capped off the inning with a two-run single, which scored Bello and Bryan Spamer (Harrisburg, Pa./Redlands).
West Virginia scored five runs in the bottom half of the inning to close the gap to 9-7, but Pittsburgh held off the rally to earn a split in the doubleheader.
Rea led the way for Pittsburgh by going 4 for 5 with five RBIs and three runs scored, including smacking a solo home run in the fourth inning and a two-run blast in the sixth inning. Folmar finished with three hits in five at-bats and Spamer, Bello and Stuart Rykaceski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) each added two hits.
Don Rhoten (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) picked up the victory despite giving up nine runs on seven hits. Rhoten (5-3) struck out seven batters but also issued seven free passes. P.J. Hiser (Hagerstown, Md./Hagerstown) notched his fourth save of the season by closing the final two innings, giving up no runs or no hits while striking out four Mountaineers.
Pittsburgh and West Virginia were scheduled to wrap up the series on Sunday, but due to rain the game is rescheduled for Monday at 1 p.m.
