Pitt baseball drops series to Notre Dame

The Pitt baseball team continues to struggle against the ACC. Last weekend, the team lost a series to Wake Forest, dropping two out of three, and the same scenario played out this weekend against Notre Dame. The Irish improved to 16-22 while the Panthers fell to 12-27.

As they did last weekend, Pitt won the series opener against the Irish, giving some hope that the team would break through for its first ACC series win of the year. But 9-0 and 4-1 defeats in Games 2 and 3 ended those chances.

Offense was a big problem for the team as they scored a total of only five runs in the three-game series. A strong outing in Game 1 from starter Derek West (two earned runs in 6 ²₃ innings) and scoreless relief by Chase Smith (the eventual winner) was one of the few bright spots over the weekend.

In addition to the poor overall record, the Panthers are a dismal 4-17 in conference outings. That is significantly behind the other bottom feeders in the conference as both Boston College and Virginia Tech have seven conference victories. The Panthers are the only team in the Coastal Division without a winning record and one of only three losing teams (Notre Dame and Boston College are the others) in the entire conference.

That sort of speaks to the strength of the ACC as a whole but you’d also expect Pitt to have a little more success. Even in down years, the team has at least found a way to win series’. There’s still time to do that, obviously, but it’s hard to imagine the team struggling as much as they have this year.

The Panthers are on pace for one of their worst seasons in a long time. The program won only 12 games in 1998 so they should top that mark. But they may not reach the 18 won only a few years later in 2001. In short, this could be the worst year for Pitt baseball since the turn of the century.

Next up for the Panthers is a home weekend series against Presbyterian with a game Friday night followed by a Saturday doubleheader.

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