University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Baseball Claims Two Victories Over Connecticut
4/15/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Claims Two Victories Over Connecticut
4/15/2000
PITTSBURGH - The Panther baseball team claimed two victories over visiting Connecticut in a Big East Conference doubleheader at Trees Field today. Solid pitching and hitting led Pittsburgh to wins of 18-0 and 10-3.
The Panthers combined for a total of 36 hits on the day, including eight home runs. Pittsburgh took a 4-0 lead in the third inning of game one before scoring nine runs in the fifth and five more in the sixth. Junior third baseman Joe Lydic (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) hit two home runs in the shutout for six runs batted in. He batted 4-for-5 in the game and scored four runs.
Junior Darrin Lenhart (Allentown, Pa./Willaim Allen) and freshman Brant Colamarino (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) also had home runs in the victory. Lenhart was 3-for-4 at the plate while sophomore centerfielder Stuart Rykaceski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) was 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI. Senior right fielder Erik Katchur (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) batted 1.000 as he went 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI.
Senior right-hander Jory Coughenour (Uniontown, Pa./Uniontown) pitched a complete seven-inning game and earned his first shutout victory of the season as the Panthers' starter. He allowed just five hits by the Huskies and struck out three batters to improve his earned run average to 2.06.
Game two saw much of the same offensively for Pittsburgh, though Connecticut jumped to a quick 2-0 lead with their first runs of the day in the first inning. The Panthers responded in the bottom of the first with a two-run home run by Rea before taking the lead for good with another two-run bomb by Colamarino in the fourth. Katchur hit his second home run of the season in the fifth inning and Lydic added his third of the day and 12th of the year in the sixth.
Rykaceski was a perfect 4-for-4 in the game with two runs scored while Lenhart was 3-for-4 with one run.
Junior Matt Irvin (Derry, Pa./Derry) earned his fifth victory of the season as he pitched all but two outs of the game, giving up seven hits and striking out four batters.
The victories improved Pittsburgh's record to 24-12 overall and 8-5 in the Big East. The Huskies fell to 17-14 and 6-8 in the conference. The Panthers will host Connecticut again tomorrow in game three of the weekend series beginning at noon at Trees Field.
