Jerry DiPaola stories, Page 96

Pitt football hit a roadblock in its spring drills Tuesday when all in-person activities were paused because of covid-related protocols. Players and coaches will continue to meet virtually, the university announced. The university said last week it has seen an 83% spike in new covid cases. Campuses in Oakland, Greensburg,...

Steven Wright can talk at great length about the knuckleball. • How he doesn’t recommend it for a young pitcher: “Ain’t nobody going out there trying to draft a knuckleball guy,” he said. • How it saved his career: “I was 26 years -old, in Double-A for the fifth year....

Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot’s venture into the NCAA transfer market led to a verbal commitment Monday from 6-foot-7, 245-pound forward R.J. Gunn. Next chapter ?✍️ pic.twitter.com/ZqkY5rb9Ef— RJ Gunn (@gunn_rj) March 22, 2021 Gunn, who spent the past four seasons at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, N.C., announced on Twitter his...

Wil Crowe didn’t mind talking baseball Sunday afternoon, but he preferred to keep the conversation focused on his outing against the Boston Red Sox. He was the starting pitcher in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 9-4 victory at JetBlue Park in Fort Myers, Fla., working 3 2/3 innings and allowing one run,...

The Pittsburgh Pirates took a low-risk chance on knuckleball pitcher Steven Wright on Sunday, signing him to a minor-league contract, with an invitation to big-league camp. It sounds like just another spring training transaction until you hear the rest of the story. Five years ago, Wright was considered a promising...

Lucas Krull didn’t get mad at the question. He is in such a good mood these days, with a sound knee and new hope for his football career, there is little that bothers him. But he did want to make something clear: The knee is fine. Krull, a senior tight...

Jason Pinnock admitted to carrying a chip on his shoulder Wednesday during Pitt’s Pro Day. If so, it must have been a light one because it surely didn’t encumber him during running and jumping drills. “That guy made some money today,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. Pinnock, a cornerback who...

Two sides of Jaylen Twyman were exposed Wednesday when he returned to Pitt. He was there for Pitt’s pro day, where 16 former players got the chance to showcase their size, skill and football acumen — all of which are hard to miss in Twyman’s case — for 32 NFL...

While chatting with reporters Tuesday on a video conference call, Damarri Mathis admitted he was hiding something. “I probably have a blank face right now,” he said, “but I have a lot of enthusiasm. You’re going to see that on Saturdays. I promise you that. I don’t like talking that...

Sophomore Justin Champagnie was named an Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American on Tuesday, becoming the first Pitt player in 10 years to receive that designation. The most recent Pitt All-Americans were Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, who were honorable-mention selections after the 2010-11 season. West Virginia’s Derek Culver and Miles...

Tavian Dunn-Martin, who followed coach Keith Dambrot from Akron to Duquesne, will return to the Dukes in 2021-22 for his sixth season as a collegian. Let's finish this script together.#GoDukes • @nolimitTDM_11 pic.twitter.com/tsfP5JpMtX— Duquesne Basketball (@DuqMBB) March 16, 2021 “It’s good news,” Dambrot said. “Anytime you have a sixth-year guy,...

Terrell Brown, who was the only Pitt player honored at Senior Night, isn’t finished playing basketball. Brown, the third-leading shot blocker in Pitt history with 173 blocks, has entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal and will attempt to enroll at another school as a graduate transfer. Only Charles...

Pitt baseball continued to rewrite history when the Panthers reached top-25 national designations for the first time in nearly eight years. Pitt (9-4, 6-3) has played all 13 games on the road, but finds itself ranked No. 18 by DIBaseball.com and No. 19 by Baseball America. “Always great for the...

Living the life of a starting pitcher, Trevor Cahill knows what it feels like to fall short of expectations and suffer through the next five days before you can do something about it. It can be a mental grind. But Cahill, 33, can be labeled a survivor in baseball terms,...

Pitt baseball recorded its second series victory against a top-10 team in the past three weekends, toppling No. 7 Georgia Tech (9-5, 6-3), 18-12, Sunday at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta. Pitt won two of the series’ three games after sweeping then-No. 9 Florida State on Feb. 26-28. Through three...

When he walks to the mound for a spring training game, Steven Brault fills his head with three purposes: • Renewing familiarity with hitters he hasn’t seen since last season. • Rebuilding his arm strength for the next six months. • Taking it on the chin, if necessary. The Pittsburgh...

Pitt won its fourth game in less than two weeks against a nationally ranked top-10 opponent, toppling No. 7 Georgia Tech on Friday night in an 11-9 come-from-behind victory. Pitt completed a three-game sweep of No. 9 Florida State on Feb. 28. The Panthers (8-3, 5-2 ACC) scored all 11...

Freshman running back Malik Newton, who enrolled in January to get a head start on his collegiate career, has been medically disqualified and won’t play football at Pitt, coach Pat Narduzzi said Friday. Newton, who ran for 4,053 yards in three seasons at Lake Taylor (Va.) High School, would have...

Sophomore Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who caught Pitt coach Jeff Capel’s eye at the outset of his freshman season and was in the starting lineup for the first two games of the 2019-2020 season, has entered the NCAA transfer portal, Capel announced Thursday. Drumgoole was the 20th freshman in Pitt history...

Penn State will send nine wrestlers, including four top-three seeds, to the NCAA Championships on March 18-20, in St. Louis. Five freshmen and a sophomore are among the qualifiers. Two-time All-American and Big Ten champion Roman Bravo-Young (9-0) at 133 pounds and senior Nick Lee at 141 will be No....

A year ago, Pitt wrestlers Micky Phillippi, Jake Wentzel, Nino Bonaccorsi and Demetrius Thomas were named All-Americans by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. But in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, there was no NCAA Championships to validate the distinctions. This year, five Pitt wrestlers, including four top-three finishers at...

Femi Odukale shot the basketball 16 times, often fighting through traffic, slithering in and out of tiny gaps, ending up with 28 points. The total was a career-high for the Pitt freshman who showed an ability to shoulder huge amounts of responsibility over the final four games after two of...

Pitt sophomore Justin Champagnie, the only major conference player in the nation averaging a double-double, was named to the All-ACC first team Monday. Champagnie is the first Pitt player since the school joined the conference for the 2013-14 season to earn first-team honors. He’s also the first Pitt player to...