University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Panthers Set for Roadtrip to Louisville
4/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 7, 2009
Complete Release in PDF Format 
PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh baseball team travels to Louisville, Ky., for a three game set with the University of Louisvills, April 9-11. Pitt and Louisville will meet at 6 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday while rounding out their series on Saturday at 1 p.m. inside Jim Patterson Stadium.
SERIES HISTORY
Pitt leads the all-time series 4-3, having won four of the past five games after dropping two straight. The Panthers took two out of three from Louisville in 2007, the last time they visited Jim Patterson Stadium. The Panthers also took two out of three from the Cardinals when they visited Trees field last season, winning 7-2 and 5-4 while, falling 5-4 in extra innings in the final game of the series.
IN THE RANKINGS
The Big East Conference statistics are peppered with Cardinals from top to bottom. As a team, they rank tops in the Big East in home runs (35) and triples (13), third in runs scored (245) and RBI (221), fourth in slugging percentage (.473) and hits (321) and fifth in on-base percentage (.394).
Sophomore Phil Wunderlich leads the team in batting average with a .348 mark. Junior Chris Dominguez has started all 29 games for the Cardinals and leads the team in homeruns (9), RBI (40), slugging pct. (.641), on base percentage (.455) and stolen bases (12). For the pitchers, Justin Marks leads them in wins (4-2, 3.43) and strikeouts with 57.
CARDINAL REVIEW
Louisville enters the week with a 20-9 overall record and a 5-4 mark in the Big East Conference. The Cardinals are currently tied with Notre Dame and Seton Hall for third place in the latest conference standings. After dropping three straight to 11th- ranked Florida to start the season, Louisville has bounced back to win 20 of the past 26 games, including four of five three game series’ played. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, which includes taking two of three from Cincinnati this past weekend, April 3-5.
RANK AND FILE
The Cardinals are no strangers to Big East Weekly Honors, where they have been represented five out of the seven possible weeks. This past week it was junior Adam Duvall’s turn, batting a stellar .444 (8-for-18) with three doubles, one home run and seven RBI. Other notable Player of the Week honorees include first baseman Andrew Clark (March 2), third baseman Chris Dominguez (March 9) and Pitcher of the Week Justin Marks (March 15), who found his name on the weekly honor roll the previous week (March 9).
STAYING IN THE CONFERENCE
Pitt plays a second straight Big East opponent when they travel to Louisville, Ky., for a three-game set, beginning Thursday at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Panthers (17-10, 4-5) and Cardinals (20-9, 5-4) are slated to play at 6 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday and 1 p.m. Saturday. Pitt will look to get back on the winning track after losing their first series of the season at South Florida, April 3-5.
SNOW DAY
Pitt’s scheduled game against the Nittany Lions at Penn State was postponed due to weather conditions. The game marked the fifth this season the Panthers have had to either cancel or postpone due to weather. The non-conference contest with PSU has been rescheduled for Tuesday, April 14th at 6:35 p.m. in University Park, Pa.
BOUNCING BACK
The Panthers are looking to rebound from their weekend series against South Florida where they were swept for the first time since Connecticut late in the 2008 season. The Panthers, who are a game behind Louisville and two other teams, are looking to jump ahead of them for third in the Big East Standings.
CHILLED BATS
After churning out explosive offensive stats through the first 24 games of the 2009 season, the Pitt bats went cold during its three-game set against the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla., April 3-5, falling short of the usual production.
Through first 24 games: (Big East Games)
Runs per game 9.0 (10.1)
Hits per game 11.7 (13.5)
vs. South Florida
Runs per game 4.6
Hits per game 8.0
600 WINS LATER
Head Coach Joe Jordano picked up his 600th career win following Pitt’s 6-4 win over Duquesne on April 1st. Jordano picked up his 300th win at Pitt in the final game of the 2008 season and currently has accumulated 317 wins while wearing the Panther Blue and Gold. The 2004 Big East Coach of the Year currently sits in second place on the all-time coaching wins list in Pitt history, trailing only Bobby Lewis, who tallied 413 wins in a 35-year career.
