April 28, 2002

PITTSBURGH-Taking full advantage of five errors by Villanova, the University of Pittsburgh baseball team captured their series against the Wildcats with a 5-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at Trees Field. The Panthers, who upped their record to 8-9 in the Big East and 25-12-1 overall, scored three unearned runs thanks to Villanova miscues.

While Pittsburgh's hitters were keeping pressure on the Wildcat defense, junior hurler P.J. Hiser (Hagerstown, Md./Hagerstown) was holding their bats in check. The Panther righty scattered eight hits and pitched his third complete game of the season, giving up just one run, a first-inning home run to Rob Cafiero. Hiser (4-2) also struck out a career-high 10 batters.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom half of the fifth inning, Pittsburgh took the lead for good junior Brant Colamarino (Pittsburgh, Pa./Central Catholic) roped a two-out, two-run double to left-center field, scoring Tony Railing (Highland Village, Texas/F.M. Marcus) and Scott Folmar (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg). Colamarino finished with two RBIs and two hits, extending his hitting streak to a team-best 15 games.

Pittsburgh notched two more runs in the sixth inning as junior Rolando Bello (Miami, Fla./Nova Southeastern) scored on an error by Wildcat shortstop Brian Trotta. Sophomore Mike Zambriczki (Newton, Pa./Council Rock) followed up with a sacrifice fly that plated Michael Bell (Baldwin, Pa./Baldwin). The Panthers scored their last run in the seventh inning Bello doubled home Colamarino.

Chris Graziano and Adrian Schau paced Villanova (26-18, 9-10 Big East) with two hits apiece, while Bob Grzenda took the loss on the mound, working 5.1 innings with three strikeouts and four hits.

Pittsburgh returns to action on Wednesday as it travels to Canisius for a doubleheader that begins at 2 p.m.