Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 163

When the Robert Morris team bus returns to the Moon campus sometime early Sunday morning, the Colonials will have a good idea how close — or far — they are from their second Northeast Conference regular-season title in the past five years. Not only do the Colonials have 407 miles...

Pitt fell into a hole last season, losing all 19 ACC games, that now appears deeper than anyone imagined. Blinded by a 12-5 start this season that included victories against top-20 teams Louisville and Florida State, hope surrounded first-year coach Jeff Capel’s program as late as Jan. 14. Then reality...

Before leaving with his team for Kissimmee, Fla., to open the 2019 season, Pitt sophomore relief pitcher Chase Smith got some good news Tuesday. He was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Preseason Watch List. He is one of five ACC pitchers on the...

Pitt received its first basketball commitment from the Class of 2019 on Monday when small forward Gerald Drumgoole announced on Twitter his plans to enroll. Drumgoole, 6-foot-6, 200 pounds, is rated a three-star prospect by Rivals.com, which ranks him 133rd on its list of the top 150 prospects in the...

Pitt and Boston College inhabit the bottom third of the ACC standings, but there still will be plenty at stake Tuesday night when the teams get together in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Pitt (12-12, 2-9) is tied for last place with Miami. Boston College (11-11, 2-8) is trying to elude the...

Sam Clancy played in 116 games at Pitt, which leaves him 20 short of standing among the school’s top 10 players in that category. He stands 6-foot-7, but nearly four decades later, he remembers vividly how often there were taller players on the floor. “Every game,” he said. But no...

The Pitt wrestling team continued building momentum for the postseason, upsetting N.C. State, the No. 8 team in the nation, 18-16, Sunday in Raleigh, N.C. It was Pitt’s first victory against N.C. State since the teams first met in 2014 and the Panthers’ first in Raleigh. Pitt improves to 11-3...

Clint Hurdle wasn’t sure what was more powerful: the slider Jameson Taillon wanted to add to his arsenal or his determination to use it. But, in Hurdle’s eyes, the mindset as much as the right arm is what makes Taillon one of the top pitchers in the National League. About...

Pitt junior Malik Ellison, who came close to a double-double in each of the past two games, won’t play Saturday when the Panthers meet N.C. State at 2 p.m. at Petersen Events Center. Pitt basketball’s Twitter account reported Ellison was hurt late in the overtime loss to Wake Forest on...

Shawn Watson, fired as Pitt’s offensive coordinator shortly after the season, has found work with SEC powerhouse Georgia. He joins the Bulldogs as an offensive quality control analyst, working with new coordinator and quarterbacks coach James Coley, who was promoted after Jim Chaney, another former Pitt coordinator, left for the...

Seven Penn State players will participate in the NFL Scouting Combine Feb. 26-March 4 in Indianapolis. They include quarterback Trace McSorley and former Woodland Hills running back Miles Sanders. Others invited are offensive linemen Ryan Bates and Connor McGovern, defensive tackle Kevin Givens, defensive end Shareef Miller and defensive back...

Pitt’s wrestling team suffered a significant blow to its postseason hopes Thursday when coach Keith Gavin announced that redshirt sophomore Jake Wentzel will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Wentzel, a starter at 165 pounds, is 9-6, with a career record of 29-24. “It’s obviously unfortunate...

There’s a reason Penn State calls national signing day a celebration. Yes, that word is right there in the first sentence of the news release. Coach James Franklin has had a top-21 class in each of the past five years, highlighted by a No. 5 ranking from Rivals.com last year...

The concept of team means a lot to Jeff Capel, and getting his young team to think that way is just one of the challenges the Pitt coach faces in the midst of a six-game losing streak. “No one accomplishes anything that’s great or that’s really good by themselves,” Capel...

The bar is set high for first-year Pitt softball coach Jodi Hermanek, whose team opens the season Friday with the first of five games at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, S.C. Hermanek replaces Holly Aprile, who left for the same job at Louisville after leading Pitt (33-18-1) to its first...

Just like he has done at the end of four previous signing days as Pitt’s coach, Pat Narduzzi stepped in front of assembled media Wednesday, wearing a wide smile, optimistic about the future of his program. The scene was a bit different this year, with Pitt getting signatures from only...

Problems continue to mount for Duquesne, but so far the Dukes have shown the ability to take a punch and keep going. The most recent issue emerged Monday, two days after a 68-64 loss at Dayton. It was the Dukes’ second in three games after winning five in a row....

Ralph Cindrich knows all about the financial contributions Armand C. Dellovade made toward the University of Pittsburgh. Before his unexpected death Monday at the age of 81, Dellovade donated more than $1 million to his beloved Pitt. But, in Cindrich’s mind, that’s not what set this philanthropic captain of industry...

The NCAA’s decision to split national signing day into two windows nearly two months apart has had a profound effect on coaches, prospects and fans. Most players in the Class of 2019 signed in December, largely to avoid protracted periods of uncertainty for everyone involved. But if the volume (as...

No one needs to tell Jeff Capel that Wake Forest is having trouble making shots. In preparation for his game against the Demon Deacons on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C., Pitt’s coach watched video of his opponent’s two most recent losses: 64-37 at Clemson on Sunday and 82-54 to Louisville four...

Francisco Liriano, who had the best season of his 13-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2013, returned to the team Monday. At least, he’ll be with the Pirates at spring training in Bradenton, Fla., trying to win a spot in the starting rotation or bullpen. He signed a minor-league...