Pitt
Connecticut
Huskies Eliminate Panthers from Big East Championship, 7-2
5/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2010
CLEARWATER, Fla. — The University of Pittsburgh baseball team was eliminated today from the 2010 Big East Conference Championship after falling 7-2 to No. 2-seeded Connecticut.
Alex Caravella (2-1) was charged with the loss after giving up four runs in four innings pitched. The freshman lefty struck out two and walked one, throwing 85 pitches in the start.
At the plate, Joe Leonard, Kevan Smith and Zach Duggan all had at least two hits on the day, led by Leonard’s 3-for-4 performance. Leonard also pitched one and a third innings of relief on the day, not surrendering a hit while striking out one Husky batter.
The Panthers threatened early in the bottom of the first, loading the bases with just out. John Schultz walked before back-to-back singles from Leonard and Smith put the Panthers in optimum scoring position. David Chester popped out to second for the second out of the inning before Nick Ahmed fielded Travis Whitmore’s grounder to short and tossed to second for the force, bailing starting pitcher Greg Nappo out of a jam.
The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the second when Cory Brownsten launched a 3-2 offering from Nappo over the wall in left field for Pitt’s first home run of the championship. It was Brownsten’s eighth career homer at Pitt and third of the year.
The lead was short lived as the Huskies knotted it up an inning later off a sacrifice fly from Nick Ahmed. Connecticut put up two in the top half of the fourth to take a 3-1 lead after Billy Ferriter drove an RBI single to the hole at short before scoring himself on Pierre LePage’s single to left field.
George Springer’s RBI single through the right side gave UConn a 4-1 advantage in the top of the fifth. The Panthers would get the run back in the bottom half after Schultz scored on Smith’s 6-3 double play, cutting the lead to 4-2.
The Huskies added one in the sixth and two more in the seventh to stretch their lead to 7-2. Ferriter scored on LePage’s RBI single up the middle in the sixth and added a two-RBI base hit himself an inning later in the seventh.
Pitt couldn’t put together a rally as Dan Feehan scattered just three hits over two and a third innings and Kevin Vance threw a hitless ninth to send the Huskies to a semifinal matchup with Rutgers.
The Panthers postseason hopes are still alive after compiling a very impressive resume; going 38-18 on the season and lead the nation in batting average (.363) and ranking among the nation’s top 15 in hits, runs scored and fielding percentage. The NCAA selection show and the road to Omaha will air Monday, May 31, at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN.
