Looking back: Youngstown State

With the 38-3 victory, the Panthers did exactly what the were supposed to: win their first game of the season against FCS team. A few stories emerged after yesterday's beating of Youngstown State.

Here are some game notes about the game. Remember to check The Pitt News, online and in print, throughout the season for more coverage of the Pitt football team. If you have anything you'd like to say about the game, team or season feel free to contact the sports editors.

- Yesterday's game was true freshman Dion Lewis' first career college game. The running back is expected to fill in where LeSean McCoy left off - carrying the offense for the Panthers. After his performance on Saturday, it looks like the running back position won't be as bad as many thought it would be a couple months ago. Lewis finished the day with 129 yards on 20 carries. He ran for two touchdowns and also caught one. Lewis is the first running back since Tony Dorsett to run for more than 100 yards in their first college game. After the game, Lewis said he was happy with how he performed in his debut but that there is "still a lot of work to do."

- Redshirt senior Bill Stull finished with 126 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He went 11 for 16 on passing attempts, but most of his passes were short screens, high percentage throws with the receiver doing more work after the catch. It didn't help that the fans didn't give Stull a warm welcome either. After Stull's lackluster performance in the Sun Bowl, there is more pressure than ever for Stull to perform at a high level. But after the first incompletion, the fans started the boos.

- As Stull heard the boos, redshirt freshman Tino Sunseri heard something different. When Sunseri came into replace Stull mid-way through the third quarter, the crowd essentially gave him a standing ovation. Sunseri went 5-8 for 80 yards and one touchdown in his first appearance in a Panthers uniform. Even before the season started, Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said he wanted to get Sunseri as much playing time as possible this season.

- Yesterday was the return of linebacker Adam Gunn. Gunn, who received a sixth-year of eligibility this summer, broke his neck in the first half of the first game last season. Before the season started, he said he was a little nervous to play in a football game again. But on the first play of the year, Gunn and Jabaal Sheard brought down Penguins running back Kevin Smith after a four-yard play. Gunn said that he forgot he broke his neck after that first hit.

Football team releases two-deep roster

In case you haven't heard, the Panthers have released their two-deep roster.

There aren't any real surprises other than the starting left guard position has been determined (senior Joe Thomas). Four true freshman will either start or backup. Dion Lewis is the only true freshman with a starting position and he will be backed up by another true freshman Ray Graham. Dan Mason will backup Adam Gunn at middle linebacker and Matt Yoklic is the backup punter.

The Panthers host Youngstown State on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Any thoughts on the starting lineup for the Panthers? Will Lewis and Graham be able to fill the void left by McCoy? Can quarterback Bill Stull have a good final year at Pitt? Who will be the standout defenseman?

* indicates redshirt

OFFENSE

SPLIT END
82 JONATHAN BALDWIN (6-5, 225, SO)
88 Oderick Turner (6-3, 205, SR*)

FLANKER
1 CEDRIC MCGEE (6-1, 205, SR*) OR
88 ODERICK TURNER (6-3, 205, SR*)

LEFT TACKLE
77 JASON PINKSTON (6-4, 305, JR*)
68 Jordan Gibbs (6-7, 295, SO*)

LEFT GUARD
56 JOE THOMAS (6-5, 290, SR)
54 Chris Jacobson (6-3, 290, SO*)

CENTER
64 ROBB HOUSER (6-2, 285, SR)
61 Alex Karabin (6-1, 290, JR*)

RIGHT GUARD
74 JOHN MALECKI (6-3, 285, SR)
75 Ryan Turnley (6-6, 305, FR*)

RIGHT TACKLE
52 LUCAS NIX (6-6, 300, SO)
60 Greg Gaskins (6-4, 285, SO*)

TIGHT END
80 NATE BYHAM (6-4, 265, SR)
2 Dorin Dickerson (6-2, 230, SR)
85 Mike Cruz (6-5, 270, FR*)

QUARTERBACK
11 BILL STULL (6-3, 215, SR*)
12 Tino Sunseri (6-2, 210, FR*)

TAILBACK
28 DION LEWIS (5-8, 195, FR)
34 Ray Graham (5-9, 185, FR)

FULLBACK
27 HENRY HYNOSKI (6-2, 260, SO*)
37 Joe Capp (5-10, 240, JR*)

DEFENSE

LEFT END
97 JABAAL SHEARD (6-4, 260, JR)
46 Shayne Hale (6-4, 250, FR*)

DEFENSIVE TACKLE
95 MICK WILLIAMS (6-1, 280, SR*)
98 Chas Alecxih (6-5, 275, SO*)

NOSE TACKLE
93 GUS MUSTAKAS (6-3, 285, SR*)
94 Myles Caragein (6-2, 275, SO*)
57 Craig Bokor (6-3, 285, SR*)

RIGHT END
91 GREG ROMEUS (6-6, 270, JR*)
35 Brandon Lindsey (6-2, 240, SO*)

SAM LINEBACKER
38 GREG WILLIAMS (6-3, 240, SO*)
15 Shane Murray (6-2, 230, SR*)

MIDDLE LINEBACKER
8 ADAM GUNN (6-2, 230, SR*)
40 Dan Mason (6-0, 225, FR)

WILL LINEBACKER
55 MAX GRUDER (6-2, 230, SO*)
36 Manny Williams (6-1, 225, FR*)

CORNERBACK
17 AARON BERRY (5-11, 180, SR)
22 Antwuan Reed (5-10, 190, SO)

CORNERBACK
7 JOVANI CHAPPEL (5-9, 185, SR)
26 Ricky Gary (5-9, 175, JR*)

FREE SAFETY
41 ANDREW TAGLIANETTI (5-11, 190, SO) OR
4 ELIJAH FIELDS (6-2, 225, JR*)

STRONG SAFETY
31 DOM DECICCO (6-3, 230, JR)
18 Jarred Holley (5-10, 175, FR*) or
20 Irvan Brown (6-0, 205, SR*)

SPECIALISTS

PUNTER
30 DAN HUTCHINS (5-11, 190, JR*)
92 Matt Yoklic (6-2, 210, FR)

PLACEKICKER
30 DAN HUTCHINS (5-11, 190, JR*)
39 Kevin Harper (5-10, 170, FR*)

HOLDER
4 ANDREW JANOCKO (6-2, 200, SO*)
41 Andrew Taglianetti (5-11, 190, SO)

KICKOFF
24 LUKE BRIGGS (6-0, 195, JR*)
39 Kevin Harper (5-10, 170, FR*)

LONG SNAPPER
71 JOHN FIEGER (6-6, 290, SO*)
85 Mike Cruz (6-5, 270, FR*)

PUNT RETURNER
3 AARON SMITH (6-0, 180, SO*)
5 Cameron Saddler (5-7, 170, FR*)

KICKOFF RETURNER
5 CAMERON SADDLER (5-7, 170, FR*)
22 ANTWUAN REED (5-10, 190, SO)
10 Aundre Wright (5-11, 180, SO*)
28 Dion Lewis (5-8, 195, FR)

A New Year

With a new school year, comes new editors at The Pitt News. My name is Jay Huerbin and I'm the sports editor for the 2009-10 publication year. I'd like to welcome Pitt fans to the paper's official sports blog.

Over the past few years the newspaper industry has changed and now once successful papers struggle to compete with, and find ways to make money with, online content. This year you will see The Pitt News take a new direction with journalism and sports coverage. Before you read a story in print, you will be able to read it online at our newly redesigned website — sometimes as early as the afternoon before. And as sports editor, I am making it my goal to cover every sport as much as possible. Not just weekly recaps of some teams, but to stay on deadline for score updates and showcase these teams with more feature stories.

Along with covering all sports more this year, you will also be able to engage in discussion with this blog, our Twitter account and various pieces of multimedia that will appear online over the next several months.

If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact me at sports@pittnews.com. I look forward to hearing from you and hope you enjoy what the sports desk at The Pitt News has to offer this year.

Baseball: Photos from the City Game

Vaughn Wallace, the photo editor at The Pitt News, attended the City Game between Pitt and Duquesne on Wednesday. His photos from the game can be found at The Pitt News' photography blog, Lightbox.

The Panthers fell to the Dukes, 5-2, in the 81st matchup between the two teams. Pitt, fighting for a spot at the Big East tournament, heads to Connecticut for a three-game series against the Huskies this weekend before returning home to close out the season against West Virginia.

Baseball: Duquesne gets best of Pitt in 81st City Game

The month of May just hasn’t been kind to Pittsburgh baseball teams at PNC Park.

Every one except for Duquesne, that is.

One night after the Pirates lost their fourth game in five tries at home, the Dukes used an early offensive barrage and a strong pitching performance from Andrew Heck to silence Pitt at the annual City Game at the Pirates’ home ballpark, 5-2.

The sophomore Heck went the distance, pitching all nine innings and allowed only six hits while striking out six. Heck walked one batter, Matt Litzinger, in the fourth inning.

The game started about a half an hour early due to a poor weather forecast for later in the evening, and sure enough a steady downpour began in the seventh inning.

But the rain didn’t bother Heck. He retired 11 of the last 12 batters he faced. The only runner he allowed in that span was a towering home run high off the left field foul pole by Chris Sedon.

The blast was Sedon’s 16th home run of the season, and third in his last four games. His 2 for 4 day at the plate raised his team-leading average to .396.

But Sedon’s home run to lessen the deficit to three runs wasn’t enough to pull the Panthers (25-16 overall, 10-10 Big East) out of a 5-1 hole.

Pitt beat Duquesne on the Dukes’ home turf on Apr. 1, 6-4, which earned Panthers coach Joe Jordano his 600th career win. But Pitt fell for the first time in its last four games against its cross-town rival.

Duquesne (11-37 overall) did its offensive damage before rain pelted the field, picking away at Pitt starter Matt Iannazzo in the first two innings to build an early 3-0 advantage.

In the top half of the second, Duquesne outfielder Derek Lefever slammed a double off the wall in left field to drive in the team’s second run. A wild pitch moved Lefever to third, and he scored on a single by Matt Carson to push Duquesne’s lead to 3-0.

The Panthers answered in the bottom of the third with two quick hits. Leadoff hitter Chris Tonte doubled down the third base line to start the inning, and Morgan Kielty followed with a single to bring Tonte across the plate.

Kielty stole second and moved to third on a ground ball, but Nathan Hood lined out to right field to end the threat.

Both Iannazzo and Heck settled down after that. At one point, Iannazzo struck out four batters in a row and didn’t allow a hit after the second inning.

Iannazzo finished with a line of six innings, four hits, three earned runs allowed and nine strikeouts.

However, Heck outdueled his counterpart, and only gave up two hits after the third inning.

Pitt wasted a golden chance to make up ground in the bottom of the sixth.

Designated hitter Joe Leonard ripped a triple into the “North Side Notch” in left-center to lead off the inning. Hood then grounded out to third, forcing Leonard back to the base.

Litzinger then lifted what looked like a sacrifice fly to center field, but Duquesne center fielder Brian Bernardo delivered a perfect strike to home to nail Leonard and end the inning.

The Dukes capitalized in the top of the eighth. Iannazzo and reliever Ryan Dunford held Duquesne without a hit for five innings until two singles led off the eighth. Anthony DeFabio then bunted back to Dunford, but the junior threw the ball over the head of Kielty at first base and into the seats, bringing Duquesne’s fourth run across.

A sacrifice fly one out later gave the Dukes their final run.

Sedon’s blast cut the lead to 5-2, but the Panthers went down silently in the bottom of the ninth, with Kevan Smith and his 15-game hitting streak waiting on deck to pinch-hit.

Pitt travels to Connecticut for three games in a weekend series starting Friday to resume Big East action. Pitt has no more non-conference games remaining on its schedule.

-Zack Chakan, For The Pitt News

Baseball: What's on the line in this year's City Game?

For the Pitt baseball team, a win in today's City Game could bring the team some needed momentum as they head into the final weeks of the regular season.

Currently, the Panthers (25-15 overall, 10-10 Big East) are in eighth place in the Big East. And although non-conference games don't factor directly into Big East standings, a win against their cross-city rivals could help the team prepare for a much bigger task: qualifying for the Big East tournament.

Only the top eight teams in the conference make it to the second season. And with a pivotal series in Connecticut coming up next week, winning today sends confidence and momentum to a team looking to make their first trip to the tournament since 2007. That year, the team entered the tournament as the No. 4-seed, but lost consecutive games to No. 5 South Florida and No. 8 Connecticut.

Following today's matchup against the Dukes, Pitt will head to Connecticut for a three-game set against the nineth-place Huskies this weekend. Both Connecticut and Seton Hall stand at 10-11 in Big East play. This upcoming series, along with a few others, could shake up the standings for that all-important No. 8-seed.

Other than South Florida, which has already qualified, only Louisville, St. John's and West Virginia look like locks to make the Big East tournament. With two teams at 11-10, one team at 10-10 and two more at 10-11, conference standings will be constantly changing in the final weeks.

After completing the series against the Huskies on Sunday, the Panthers will have three days off before taking on West Virginia (31-14, 13-8) in the baseball edition of the Backyard Brawl.

Here's a look at the Big East standings prior to Pitt's game against Duquesne:
1. *USF (17-4)
2. Louisville (14-6)
4. St. John's (14-7)
5. West Virginia (13-8)
6. Notre Dame (11-10)
7. Cincinnati (11-10)
8. Pittsburgh (10-10)
9. Connecticut (10-11)
10. Seton Hall (10-11)
11. Georgetown (5-15)
12. Rutgers (5-16)
13. Villanova (4-16)
*Qualified for the Big East tournament
Note: Only the top eight teams qualify

-Jay Huerbin, Sports Editor

Five Panthers sign with NFL teams

While they weren't drafted, five more former members of the Pitt football team have signed contracts with NFL teams. If a player is not drafted he becomes a free agent, and can sign as an undrafted free agent with any team.

The five Panthers are punter Dave Brytus, who signed with the Baltimore Ravens, offensive lineman C.J. Davis, who will join the Carolina Panthers, defensive lineman Rashaad Duncan, who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, long snapper Mark Estermyer. who doesn't have to move too far as he signed with the Steelers and Adam Graessl, who graduated from Pitt in 2006 signed with the Green Bay Packers.

While it's not too likely any of the undrafted players will jump right into a situation that gives them a lot of playing time, it's quite possible for an undrafted player to work his way up the depth chart and start eventually. Just to name a few players who weren't selected in the Draft in recent years: Chargers' tight end Antonio Gates, Steelers' running back Willie Parker and linebacker, as well as reigning AP defensive player of the year, James Harrison. Those, of course, are some of the best cases of undrafted free agency working out for a team.

Brytus goes to a Baltimore team that seems to have a steady option already at punter in Sam Koch. In his three years in the league, all with Baltimore, Koch has played 16 games every year and averaged no less than 43 yards a punt each season, also increasing that average each year. That total placed Koch 12th in the league in punting last year. His average net total, or average when combined with how far opposing player's return his punts, was 39.9 yards, sixth best in the league. So clearly Brytus has some work cut out for him if he's to play punter. If the Ravens for some reason need break a wooden board, Brytus could certainly step in and help them right away.

Davis reunites with fellow ex-Panther offensive lineman Jeff Otah by signing with Carolina. He also gets to remain on a team named "Panthers." Carolina was one of the better running teams in the league last year, with DeAngelo Williams finished third in the league with 1,515 yards, and his backup Jonathan Stewart rushing for 836 yards. While Carolina has a lot of lineman on the roster, what could help Davis see time is his consistency and versatility. Davis started his last 43 games as a Panther, and split time between his natural position, left tackle, and center, which he moved to because of injuries to other members of the line. If Davis shows the same willingness to show up and play every day, as well as play anywhere the team needs him, he could very well make an impact on Carolina this year.

Duncan was a fixture on the Panthers defensive line throughout his career, starting 35 of 48 games he played in while at Pitt. Last year he recorded 55 tackles, including 5.5 tackles for a loss, and had 1.5 sacks. He was named by the team as its MVP on the defensive line. He goes to one of the top defensive teams in the league in Tampa Bay. And like any other team that excels at one aspect of the game, the Buccaneers have depth. Duncan is behind a long line of defensive lineman, specifically defensive tackles, which is his position. So unless Duncan plays unbelievably well in training camp and the preseason, or Tampa Bay has a lot of injuries, playing time looks like it might be a bit scarce for Duncan this year.

Estermyer was a walk-on with the Panthers, but eventually earned a scholarship. He handled only long snapping for punts his first two years at Pitt, but then expanded his repertoire to include field goals and point after touchdowns. He played in all 12 games with Pitt these last two seasons, and for the last three seasons he's been named to the Big East All-Academic football team. He's expected to compete with Greg Warren, who played in all 16 games last season for the Steelers as their long snapper, for the starting job.

Graessle was Pitt's punter before Brytus arrived. During his sophomore season in 2004 he earned all-Big East honors. The Packers already two punters on the roster, Durant Brooks and Jeremy Kapinos, who split the punting last year. That doesn't bode well for Graessle's hope of playing time, but it is technically possible he could beat out the two other punters for a starting gig.

Also, because why not just count it towards Pitt's total anyway, ex-Panther Rashad Jennings was drafted with the 41st pick of the seventh round, or 250th overall, by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jennings rushed for 455 yards and one touchdown for the Panthers in 2005. He then transferred to Liberty University where he ran for more than 1,000 yards three straight seasons.