Pitt
St. John's
Baseball Falls Short Against St. John's, 6-4
5/26/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 26, 2011
Clearwater, Fla. - Pitt baseball dropped a hard fought contest to St. John's, 6-4, Thursday afternoon at Bright House Field. The Panthers face Louisville on Friday at 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinals.
Seniors Kevan Smith and David Chester each hit a home run for the second game in a row. Both conference first-team members added 2 RBI. Smith went 3-for-4 at the plate.
Pitt (33-22) collected 11 hits in the game but managed only two for extra base hits - both coming via the long ball.
Smith opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-out solo blast to left-center. The blast was Smith's third of the tournament and marked the second game in which he homered in his first at-bat.
St. John's (34-18) tied the game in top of the third, scoring on a fielder's choice. The Red Storm loaded the bases with zero outs, but senior Corey Baker worked out of the jam, allowing just the one run.
In the fourth inning, both teams exchanged runs, with the Red Storm cashing in on an RBI single to right-center. In the bottom of the inning, Chester hit his 16th homer of the season, and second in as many days. The tying smash reached the second bullpen beyond the left-field wall.
In a back and forth game, the Red Storm regained the lead in the fifth. After the leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, the Panthers squandered a chance to turn a double play, allowing the lead runner to move to third base. The next hitter singled to left, plating the runner from third. Baker once again worked out of a bases-loaded jam, retiring the final two batters by way of a strikeout and a fly-out to right.
Adding a run in the sixth and seventh, the Red Storm improved their lead to three runs, scoring on an RBI single to left in the sixth and a two-out RBI double to right-center in the seventh.
Pitt mounted a comeback in the eighth, scoring runs on RBI singles by Smith and Chester. It appeared as though the Panthers had tied it when Smith attempted to score on a wild pitch, but was called out by the home plate umpire, who ruled that the catcher applied the tag before Smith's hand touched the plate.
The Red Storm added an insurance run in the top of the eighth before the Panthers brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth, but were unable to rally.
Baker (5-4) pitched five innings and allowed just two earned runs, walking three and striking out five in the loss. Sophomores Alex Caravella and Ray Black combined to pitch the final four innings.
Pitt looks to stay alive in tournament play when it faces Louisville on Friday at 3 p.m. The Panthers defeated the Cardinals, 7-2 on Wednesday to open up BIG EAST play on Wednesday.
Live scores, stats and free streaming video of all BIG EAST games are available at the conference's Tournament Central page.
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