University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Brant Colamarino Named Big East Co-Rookie of the Week
5/8/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Brant Colamarino Named Big East Co-Rookie of the Week
5/8/2000
PITTSBURGH - Brant Colamarino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic), a freshman first baseman and designated hitter for the Pittsburgh Panthers baseball team, has been honored as the Big East Conference's Co-Rookie of the Week, it was announced today by the league office.
Colamarino, who shares the honor with Notre Dame's Kris Billmaier, led Pittsburgh to a record-setting 22-18 win over the Irish on May 7. Trailing 18-12 entering the ninth inning after losing a seven-run lead, Colamarino hit two home runs to plate five and spark the amazing come-from-behind victory for Pittsburgh.
The Panthers, who came just two at-bats shy of batting through the lineup twice in the ninth inning, rallied to score 10 runs on 10 hits. Colamarino's second home run of the inning came with two runners on base, two outs and the game knotted at 18-18. He finished the game hitting 4-for-6 with three runs scored and six runs batted in.
For the week, Colamarino hit .438 (7-for-16) with seven runs, eight RBI and two home runs while helping the Panthers to four wins. Pittsburgh's win over Notre Dame robbed the Irish of the three-game series sweep and was just the second win for the Panthers in the 17-game series history.
Colamarino has started 29 games and played in 40 this season as one of just two starting freshmen for the Pittsburgh squad. He is currently third on the team with a .333 batting average that includes 34 hits (2-2B, 3B, 6-HR) on the year. He is also second on the team in slugging precentage (.549), fourth in RBI (25) and has scored 22 runs. Colamarino now ranks among the Big East's top ten in on base percentage in all games (.457) and slugging percentage in conference matchups (.625).
Colamarino joins teammate Joe Lydic as the only two Panthers to garner conference weekly honors this season.
Pittsburgh is 29-20 overall and 9-12 in the Big East. The Panthers will look to record their first 30-win season since 1995 when they face Toledo (May 10), Akron (May 11) and Boston College (May 13-14) to wrap up their regular season this week.
