University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
St Johns
Baseball Comes From Behind to Take Down St. John's
4/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 2000
PITTSBURGH - Junior Charis Britt (Penn Hills, Pa./Gulf Coast C.C.) hit a sacrifice fly with bases loaded in the bottom of the 12th inning to drive Pittsburgh past visiting St. John's today, 10-9, at Trees Field. It was the third matchup of the three-game Big East Conference weekend series.
With no outs in the inning and the score tied at 9-9, Britt's sacrifice allowed junior Corey Joyce (Scranton, Pa./Lackawanna C.C.) to score on the tag-up from third base and give the Panthers their 19th win of the season.
Pittsburgh trailed by scores of 5-0 and 9-4 earlier in the game before making its come-from-behind rally. Four runs in the eighth inning brought the Panthers within just one of the Red Storm. After sophomore Brad Rea (Gibsonia, Pa./North Allegheny) was walked and senior Christopher Happ (Rochester, N.Y./Greece-Athena) was hit by a pitch, senior Harry Ciavarella (Moscow, Pa./North Pocono) knocked a three-run home run over the left field fence. It was his second long bomb of the season. Britt then doubled to right field to drive in senior Erik Katchur (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin), who had reached first base on a walk.
In the bottom of the ninth with the Panthers still down by one, freshman Brant Colamarino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) singled to right field before his pinchrunner, Andre Williams (Johnstown, Pa./Johnstown), advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Scott Folmar (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg). Junior Darrin Lenhart (Allentown, Pa./William Allen) then doubled down the left field line to score Williams and tie the game. The inning was retired with two men on base to force the game into extra innings.
The Red Storm's offense was effectively shut down by junior sidearm Lou Kammermeier (Dormont, Pa./Pitt-Greensburg), who pitched four innings in relief while giving up just one hit to earn his second win of the season. Sophomore left-hander Eric Ackerman (Denver, Pa./Cocalico) started on the mound for the Panthers, but pitched just two whole innings. He was also relieved by senior Steve Vickroy (Johnstown, Pa./Westmont Hilltop) for five innings and junior Scott Schultz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Carrick) for one.
Pittsburgh was led by Ciavarella at the plate as he went 3-for-5 with three RBI and a run scored. Sophomore Stuart Rykaceski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Woodland Hills) was 3-for-6 while junior Joe Lydic (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) hit his eighth home run of the season in the third inning.
With the win, the Panthers improve to 19-11 overall and 5-4 in the Big East. St. John's moves to 15-9 and 3-3 in conference play. Pittsburgh will travel to New York next week to take on Buffalo on April 4, and Canisius on April 5.
