Pitt has real shot to win Big East baseball title

Pitt continued its storybook baseball season with a three-game sweep over Rutgers this past weekend. The Panthers are now 29-10 on the season and are 9-1 over their past ten games.

With only 16 games left, the Panthers are nearly 3/4 of the way through the season. This is no longer a case of a hot start - Pitt has proved to be a quality team. The sweep at the hands of South Florida a few weeks ago had me asking some questions, but considering the Bulls are in first place in the conference, it's easier to overlook that series.

And also proving the point that the Panthers are for real are the other sweeps they've had this season. Pitt isn't only winning series, but sweeping them. The Panthers have swept Wichita State, Youngstown State, St. John's, Towson, Notre Dame, and now Rutgers. They've also swept two-game series against Manhattan and Toledo. Even good teams stumble from time to time, but Pitt has had few such troubles.

It all has Pitt currently in second place and only a game behind leader South Florida. To make things easier, Pitt has very winnable games left. A season-ending series against 3rd place Louisville still looms, but as Greg pointed out in his Rutgers recap, the team has many winnable games still left. The Panthers have three-game series' against Georgetown, Cincinnati, and Villanova - currently three of the bottom four teams in the Big East. And Pitt should be favored in individual games against West Virginia (22-18), Akron (8-28), Ohio (9-28), and Kent State.

Add it all up and the Panthers have a great chance to walk away with the conference's regular season championship.

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