USF Heads to Pitt for a 3-Game Set

The USF Bulls, 23-11 (8-1), return to conference action as they hit the road again to take on the Pitt Panthers.  Pitt is 16-15 on the season, but just 2-7 in league play so far.  They are 6-3 at home, so they will look to turn their season around as the Bulls look to continue to stay at the top of the Big East standings (game tonight starts at 6PM, followed by a 3PM start time on Saturday, and finally the series ends Sunday at 1PM).

Pitt is led by senior catcher/1B Rick Devereaux (6-0 190-pounds) who is batting .391 with 5 home runs and has 40 RBIs on the season.  Junior infielder Sam Parente (6-0 205-pounds) is batting .329 with 4 doubles and has 8 RBIs.  Senior catcher/3B Anthony Defabio (5-7 195-pounds) is batting .339 with 16 RBIs and has 7 steals on the season.  Sophomore outfielder Casey Roche (6-0 175-pounds) is batting .318 with 2 home runs and has 29 RBIs on the season.  Freshman outfielder Boo Vasquez (6-4 200-pounds) is batting .303 with 10 RBIs as well. The Panthers have a very balanced batting order, which will prove to be a challenge to the USF starting staff.  If Barbosa and company can continue to pound the strike zone, they should be able to get hitters out quickly during the series.

The Pitt pitching staff is led by sophomore RHP Ethan Mildren (6-4 215-pounds) who is 3-2 on the year with a 3.54 ERA.  He has thrown 53.1 innings, allowing 54 hits, 8 walks, and has struck out 38 batters and allowing opponents to hit .271 against him.  Senior LHP Matt Iamazzo (5-9 170-pounds) is 4-2 on the season with a 3.96 ERA.  He has worked 52.1 innings, allowing 67 hits, 13 walks and has struck out 42 (.310 batting average against him).  Freshman RHP Tanner Wilt (6-0 195-pounds) is 1-3 on the season with 5 saves (3.65 ERA).  He has working 12.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, 2 walks and has struck out 13 batters.  The Pitt pitchers, much like the ND staff USF faced earlier this season, don't walk many batters. They will pound the strike zone, getting hitters to swing and miss, but also to give up a lot of hits.  The Bulls offense should be able to get plenty of base runners on during the series and cause a lot of issues for Pitt.

The Bulls are currently tied with UCONN for the lead in the Big East and just a game ahead of Louisville, so this series is very important to Prado and company.  They have to keep pace and need to beat the teams towards the bottom of the Big East standings. While a sweep would be perfect, taking 2 out of 3 isn't bad either.