March 1, 2010
PITTSBURGH -
Pitt junior Joe Leonard earned Most Valuable Player honors, as Pitt’s baseball team (5-1) returned from the Armed Services Classic with a 3-0 record. The Panthers defeated Bradley (3-2), Memphis (9-8) and Toledo (11-3) for the sweep.
Leonard went 6-for-14 at the plate in the three games, while tallying 10 assists, seven RBI and two runs. On the season, he leads the team with a .767 slugging percentage, 18 RBI and six doubles.
In the first game of the tournament, Pitt trailed 2-0 until the bottom of the fourth where Leonard recorded two RBI with a double. Earlier in the inning, catcher Cory Brownsten scored off a single from Danny Lopez. Brownsten was on base due to a one-out double of his own.
In the game, Brownsten was 3-for-4 with a run and had seven putouts in the contest.
On the mound, Corey Baker struck out four batters, while giving up seven hits in his second win of the season.
In game two, against host Memphis, Pitt posted nine runs in another one-run victory. The come-from-behind win came only from a strong four-run ninth-inning effort by the Panthers.
Pitt and Memphis kept the score close through the first six innings with the score tied at 5-5. The Tigers took the lead in the seventh with a three-run bottom of the seventh. Pitt was unable to respond until the top of the ninth when they scored four runs on four hits.
Freshman Jeff Kelly (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) earned the win for the Panthers, giving up no runs on three hits in 2.1 innings of work. J.R. Leonardi (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Alderdice) took the save with 0.1 innings pitched. In its final game of the tournament, Pitt recorded an eight-run victory over Toledo, 13-7, as four Panthers drove in two runs a piece including Leonard, Lopez, John Schultz and Travis Whitmore.
Lopez scored three runs in the contest, going 3-for-4 at the plate.
Nate Hood earned his first win of the season, allowing six hits and catching four on strikes.
Pitt returns to action March 5-7 at the Caravelle Resort Invitational in Conway, S.C. The Panthers will take on Albany on Friday at noon and Ball State at 7:30 p.m. On Saturday, the Panthers will meet up with host Coastal Carolina and on Sunday, Pitt will have a re-match with Toledo at 10 a.m.
