Pitt baseball sees ups and downs in first ACC season

Pitt's baseball team won a record 42 games in 2013. With the move to the ACC and two key players being selected in the MLB Draft, a step back was all but assured.

In the end, the Panthers regressed quite a bit, though. The team wasn't even one of the top ten in the ACC and missed out on the conference tournament.

Pitt's schedule was a huge part of the problem. It was a significant step up from what the team faced in 2013 in their final year of the Big East. Despite the difficulty, though, the Panthers had their moments. Pitt swept a ranked Georgia Tech team. They also put up a strong effort against top-ranked Virginia, winning one and narrowly losing a second. In addition, the Panthers won series against Duke and Boston College, and won a game against ranked Clemson and North Carolina teams.

Eventually, though, the schedule caught up with them. They were swept by Miami and Virginia Tech, and with a chance to reach the ACC Tournament, the Panthers lost six straight against Maryland and Notre Dame. And, oh yeah, they were even no-hit this year.

That wasn't all. As I wrote in the comments section of another post, the Panthers really struggled against some bad teams, dropping all kinds of games they shouldn't have. Pitt lost games to West Virginia (2), Coastal Carolina, Fordham, Akron, Youngstown State, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, and Western Kentucky. They're not going to beat every team they should simply because it's baseball, but the team just suffered too many bad losses this year.

The program is still one on the rise, but there were some definite growing pains this year.

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