March 21, 2010

Box Score

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team completed their three-game road swing through the Philadelphia area with a 7-1 win over Temple today here at Skip Wilson Field, extending its winning streak to seven games now.

“We played solid baseball this weekend,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “ Despite having one of our weekend pitchers unavailable to throw, our staff did a solid job.”

Senior right-hander Nathan Hood threw a complete-game four hitter to improve to 3-0 on the season. Hood walked just one Owl batter and struck out six, increasing his team-lead in strikeouts to 37 on the season.

Five Panthers recorded at least one RBI, led by Kevan Smith and Cory Brownsten who each drove in two on the day.

“Offensively, we continue to swing the bats well,” said Jordano. "Our offense has been giving our pitchers great run support over the last two weeks, something we hope to continue with each game." 

After a scoreless first inning, the Panthers jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the top half of the second. The Panthers platted the first run after a Travis Whitmore single to right was followed by a Jean Carlos Diaz error, allowing David Chester to score. Whitmore scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly to right by Brownsten to round out the Panther second.

Up 2-0, Hood went to work on the Owl lineup. After allowing just one hit through the first three innings, the Cleburne, Texas native struck out the side in the Temple fourth.

The Pitt offense broke the game open in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs on four hits to make it 6-0. Sean Toole led the inning off with a double to left field and scored two batters later on a Zach Duggan single. Duggan stole second and scored on a John Schultz single to right to bring the score to 4-0 in favor of Pitt. A costly two-out error by Temple shortstop Adrian Perez allowed the final two runs of the inning for Pitt.

Pitt made it 7-0 after the sixth when Whitmore scored on a Brownsten groundout, giving Hood more than enough run support. Temple went three up, three down in both the sixth and seventh innings before breaking Hood’s shutout bid. Diaz doubled in the eighth and scored off a wild pitch to bring the score to 7-1, but that’s as close as the Owls would get.

“We are working hard at improving in all areas in an effort to prepare for Penn State and St. John’s this upcoming week,” stated Jordano. “PSU is always a tough game because of the rivalry and St. John’s in my opinion is one of the top programs in the conference, so it will be a great challenge for our club.”

Pitt returns home for a four-game home stand this week, starting with a non-conference game against Penn State on Tuesday, March 23, and a three-game set to open Big East Conference action with St. John’s March 26-28. First pitch for the Panthers and Nittany Lions matchup is slated for 3 p.m. at Trees Field.