4-17-17 by The Pitt News

The Pitt News

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Henry Hillman dies at 98

LET IT FLOW

December 25, 1918 April 14, 2017

James Evan Bowen-Gaddy Assistant News Editor

Henry L. Hillman, a Pittsburgh-based philanthropist and member of the Hillman family, who donated millions to the construction of Pitt’s Hillman Library, died Friday evening. Hillman passed away at 98 years old, on April 14. The Hillman Family Foundations — a parent office for each of the 18 Hillman foundations — announced Hillman’s death on its website this weekend, highlighting his Pittsburgh-based philanthropy by writing “his dedication to Pittsburgh was — and will remain — a defining characteristic of his long life.” According to Hillman’s biographical website, his multiple foundations have contributed millions to UPMC Children’s Hospital, Pitt’s Cancer Institute, Pitt’s University Library System and Carnegie Mellon University. His philanthropic nature was closely intertwined with his business sense, approaching his philanthropy with the same care he did his business dealings. “A lot of people think it’s easy to give away money,” Hillman said in his website biography. “But if you’re not careful you can just throw it away. I have discovered that giving intelligently and effectively can be just as hard as investing inSee Hillman on page 3

Adrian Galvin, a second year grad student at Carnegie Mellon University and member of the Pittsburgh Flow Collective, performs outside of Posvar Hall Sunday. Li Yi STAFF PHOTORAPHER

Pitt hosts

SUPER SMASH BROS. TOURNAMENT

Grant Burgman and Rose Luder

Student Center. Plenty of these battles played out over the course of 10 hours on Saturday, when gamers The Pitt News Staff from age 15 to 40 gathered to fight to the death, Fox, the main character of the classic NinNintendo style. It was the seventh annual Fight tendo game “Star Fox,” was about to fall to his Pitt tournament, a competition for players of death Saturday at the hands of Princess Peach. the popular Nintendo game “Super Smash Bros. Miraculously, Fox recovered and won the Melee,” which came out for the GameCube in battle, much to the amusement of the crowd 2001. gathered around a small television at the O’Hara This year, 230 registered participants, in-

cluding both Pitt students and national players, competed on 50 different televisions divided between two floors of O’Hara. Both gaming rooms were lined with tables and televisions occupied by focused gamers, all fueled by coolers and mini fridges full of Red Bull. Commentators also streamed the tournament on Twitch which recorded 60,578 views throughout the day. See Smash Bros. on page 2

News

Interactive crime map online

SGB YEAR IN REVIEW Ashwini Sivaganesh News Editor

After initiation this Friday, the current Student Government Board will step down to make way for its successors. Since the fall semester, the organization kept up with efforts to engage with the student body through events, such as Panthers in Politics and Women’s Empowerment Week, and outreach, but passed only a few bills and resolutions. So far this year, the Board passed two

Smash Bros., pg. 1 The Pitt Smash Bros. — a student organization on campus that holds weekly Super Smash Bros. tournaments — organized the event. Unlike the other tournaments the club hosts, Fight Pitt attracts attention from players outside the state. Johnny Gamble, the business manager of Pitt Smash Bros., said the tournament brought in people from Ohio, New York, Maryland and Kentucky. The club hosts a tournament every Friday night at Carnegie Mellon University for $1, where players from all over Pittsburgh come to compete. According to Gamble, the low cost and proximity to Pitt and CMU has helped build a large community of players in the Pittsburgh area. Besides the weekly tournaments, the club also tries to draw larger crowds for events like Fight Pitt. “Fight Pitt is by far our biggest event,” Gamble, a sophomore marketing major, said. Corey Noel, a junior computer science major and an organizer of the event, said in recent years, the Pittsburgh gaming community garnered national attention from both fans and players of the game. “We used to have competitions monthly but it just got too big,” Noel said. “There’s not only players here, there’s spectators too.” Super Smash Bros. competitors, or “smashers,” often prefer the 2001 edition of the game to newer versions of the game. On Gamespot

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fair for members and student groups seeking allocation funds. SGB hosted its first town hall style meeting Jan. 31, to encourage students who don’t have a lot of free time to come and share their concerns with the Board. resolutions and three bills, and will vote The Board hosts these town halls once a on another four bills at their weekly month, encouraging students and student groups to bring concerns and quesmeeting Tuesday night. One of the biggest changes for SGB tions to it during the extended open was the 28.76 percent voter turnout in- floors. The Board skips over the normal crease from last year in the 2017 elec- segment where Board members share tion. The 5,177 students who voted elect- their agendas and remarks. The Board ed Max Kneis, a junior economics and was able to hold three at the end of the finance major, as the next SGB president. spring semester, all of which had low atHowever, the increased voter turnout tendance. “I think some areas where we can still did not translate to attendance at weekly meetings, which remained mostly an af- improve are increasing our collaboration — a social media platform designed specifically for gamers — players said newer versions of the game are too simplistic and geared toward noncompetitive players, while “Melee” is a faster and more interesting version of the game. “There are a lot of little things about Melee that add up to make it a beautiful game. You have a lot of freedom in your movement and how you choose to play the game in ‘Melee,’” Gamble said. Saturday’s competition demonstrated the intensity of the game. While two players sat in front of a TV at once, other gamers watched their peers play, sometimes commenting on the player’s technique, or cheering for a match’s winner. Two MC’s spoke into a microphone, calling out names like “bambi” or “Fredrick Lamar” — a tagline players use to identify themselves — to signify when it was their time to play. Galen Baker, a junior computer engineering major at Drexel University in Philadelphia, participated in Saturday’s tournament and praised “Melee” for how it rewards innovative play. “I think it’s a fun game and it’s really freeform. There is a lot of room to explore how you like to play. It’s not as rigid as other competitive games,” Baker said. Baker, who also commentated portions of the competition on the live online stream — has made trips to tournaments before in places like New York and Washington, D.C. Baker said he made the trip from Philadelphia specifi-

with other student groups and advertising all of the initiatives we are working on more effectively,” SGB president Natalie Dall said in an email. While attendance at meetings is low, the allocations committee is reaching more student groups with their funding. This year, the committee minimized the amount of money set aside for student groups that was leftover at the end of the year, according to Allocations Committee Chair Maddie Guido. At the end of last year, Guido said there were funds that didn’t get allocated, but this year the group is “on target” to distributing most of that money. Of the $850,000 in allocation funds — which full-time See SGB on page 4

Caboose plays Super Smash Bros. Melee at the O’Hara Student Center during a video game tournament held Saturday. Stephen Caruso ASSISTANT VISUAL EDITOR

cally to participate in Fight Pitt. “I heard that this was really well-run and there are a lot of people,” Baker said. After a long day of “smashing,” the competition ended with a battle between the final eight, double-elimination style. Kalindi Jabari Harison from Ohio, better known by his game name “KJH,” took home the $860 grand prize. Following Harison, Arjun Rao took second and David Long took third.

April 17, 2017

At the end of the competition, some players, like Gamble, ruminated on the Pittsburgh gaming community. He said he enjoyed the competition because of Pittsburgh’s active role in the gaming community. “Pittsburgh itself is known for having wellknown exciting players,” Gamble said. “The ‘Melee’ scene is pretty diverse and Pittsburgh has some entertaining players.”

In a story titled “Tracking Trivia” published Friday, The Pitt News incorrectly stated Hemingway’s Cafe has trivia nights on Monday and Wednesday nights. The bar hosts trivia nights on Tuesday and Wednesday each week. The Pitt News regrets this error.

Hillman, pg. 1 telligently and effectively.” Hillman’s evolution from businessman to philanthropist happened over the course of many years. He was born in Pittsburgh December 25, 1918, and attended Shady Side Academy. Hillman began his philanthropic and business endeavors after graduating from Princeton University in 1941 and serving as a Naval pilot until 1945. Following his father and his father before him, Hillman began building his fortune by working in the iron industry. As vice president of J. H. Hillman & Sons — which would later be named The Hillman Company — the young businessman expanded the sales of the Pittsburgh Coke & Chemical Company, which traded iron, coal products and carbon-based fuels. According to the biography section of his website, Hillman got involved in philanthropy during the late 1960s and early ’70s when he served as president of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, with a focus on lessening the economic inequalities facing African-Americans in Pittsburgh. He also served as a trustee for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and Pitt, among many other organizations. “I think it was participation on those boards that got me interested in philanthropy,” Hillman said on his website biography. “When you are participating in a place where you and your family live, you get a good feel for what needs to be done.”

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Since then, Hillman contributed $20 million to help fund cancer research at the Pitt Cancer Institute and UPMC CancerCenter in 2005. He also donated $10 million in 2008 to CMU to fund computer science research. “Henry didn’t just provide funding,” Stanley M. Marks, chairman of UPMC CancerCenter said in a press release Saturday. “He wanted to know what research was being done and what progress was being made. He was intrigued by the science and the paradigm shift that is taking place in the way we approach cancer.” The Pitt University Library System also released a statement on his passing, focusing on the Hillman Family Foundation’s contributions that helped make the construction of the Hillman Library possible. “[His legacy] is particularly visible through the hundreds of thousands of students, faculty and researchers who have used the Hillman Library to advance their important work since its construction,” the ULS said in the release, adding that the university is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the library this year. Chancellor Patrick Gallagher and Chancellor Emeritus Mark A. Nordenberg also praised Hillman for his philanthropic work in the city in statements on Twitter Friday night. Nordenberg called Hillman a “shining example of human goodness” and Gallagher commended him for being a great “architect” of the city. “A pioneering business leader who had an abiding love for his city and a commitment to improving it, Henry and his be- Henry Hillman, industrialist and philanthropist, loved wife Elsie forever changed Pittsburgh and all of us privileged passed away on Friday at age 98. Courtesy of enough to live and work here,” Gallagher said in his statement. HenryLHillman.com

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SGB, pg. 2 students contribute $80 to each semester as part of the student activities fees — SGB distributed about $654,295.84 over the course of the fall and spring semester, according to SGB’s website. “After last year’s surplus, our goal was to reach out to as many organizations as possible in order to educate them about the allocations process and hopefully reach our target number,” Guido said in an email. While there weren’t many bills or resolutions passed this academic school year, Dall said the organization’s initiatives, ranging from the Safety Fairs to installing 32 new street lights in Oakland, speak more to what they accomplished for the student body. “I would argue that the number of bills and resolutions we introduce is not reflective of all of the work we do,” Dall said in an email. “Almost all of our initiatives this year pertained directly to the interests of undergraduate students at Pitt ... Not every initiative requires a resolution to drive it, and it is up to each

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Board [member] to decide how many they want to write.” Kneis said, for the upcoming year, he is looking forward to continuing to maintain and improve initiatives from this year, such as mental health awareness and sexual assault awareness, but is also focused on being a facilitator between students and the administration. “My incoming Board members have some great initiatives they ran on, and one of my biggest goals will be supporting them to get these accomplished next year,” Kneis said in an email. “The president’s main job is to facilitate the many moving parts between Board members, committees and other stakeholders within SGB.” Resolutions Passed BR 2016.04 is a resolution in support of a Pennsylvania House of Representatives bill HB 218 improving on hate crime legislation to include ethnic intimidation. BR 2017.01 is a resolution that allowed SGB to apply for a grant given by the American Cancer Society and CVS Health to universities so they can educate and advocate for tobacco-free and

campus-free smoking habits on campus. Bills Passed BB 39 corrected several grammatical errors and changed the language of the Board’s governing code to make it more inclusive. Specifically, SGB switched from using pronouns to using the title of the appropriate committee the code is referring to instead. The original documents used all male pronouns. BB 40 states Allocations Committee members are no longer allowed to submit or defend allocations requests. Previously, there was no rule barring members from presenting allocations requests that would benefit themselves or their colleagues. BB 41 corrected several grammatical errors and changed the language of the Board’s election code to make it more inclusive. Specifically, SGB changed from referring to male and female pronouns to using they, their and its. Bills to be voted on this Tuesday BB 42 will allow students to get a free online subscription to The New York Times. This will replace the current system which provides 250 print copies of The New York Times and 250 copies of

April 17, 2017

USA Today in newsstands around campus — accessible with an active student ID. The changes would be implemented immediately following the Board’s vote. BB 43 will officially add the First Year Council — a group of first-year students who work with SGB members — to the governing code. The group has been in place since the start of the semester as a way to get more first-year students involved in SGB. BB 44 will officially add the communications director and communications committee — a group within SGB that handles advertising and marketing for the organization — to the governing code. BB 45 will add an additional open floor segment at the beginning of public meetings after the president’s report. Currently there are two open floors near the end of the meetings, and this change will be implemented immediately after the bill is passed.

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April 17, 2017

Opinions

column

FLIRTING WITH THE FUTURE:

Emily Hower

embrace uncertainty in jobs & dating

with back-up talking points to avoid any awkwardness. First date and initial inContributing Editor terview interactions are defined by do’s It’s a sunny spring afternoon in Oakand don’ts, sculpted by societal decorum. land — the kind of day that typically calls Ask questions, but don’t come across as for Conflict Kitchen consumed crosspushy or over eager. Be personable and legged on the Schenley lawn. relaxed despite the obvious fact that the But instead of chowing down on other party is analyzing every word you falafel while basking in Cathy’s beauty, I’m shuttered indoors, armed with a large Dunkin Donuts iced coffee and my trusted “Hire Me” spreadsheet — where I meticulously record each job I’ve applied to. As a graduating senior, I’ve come to perfect the maddening routine of applying for jobs — research potential opportunities, submit application, follow up, log into spreadsheet, rinse and repeat. Throughout this tiring process of trying to get the right people’s attention, which started over winter break and has slowly seeped into spring, I realized my actions mimicked another aspect of being a senior in college. I was on a caffeine-induced applying spree when I had the ultimate breakthrough: job searching parallels the early stages of dating. Let’s start with the initial interaction — that first email from a recruiter requesting a casual “phone chat” or a text from the unknown number you met at the bar last weekend. Both require a group effort. I have a few pairs of eyes skim over almost every reply email I send say. to a recruiter. Similarly, I often enlist Both pursuits don’t necessarily progmultiple friends to craft a reply text that ress in typical textbook fashion — getprojects the perfect amount of apathy. ting hired is complicated, just like definThen, there’s the first face-to-face ing the boundaries in a relationship. For meeting, the moment that defines the example, a long-term internship is like future of the relationship. The in-person that person you’ve been talking to onjob interview is like a first date — both and-off for the past two years. Will you parties agree to meet, curious about date after college? Will the internship what the other has to offer, prepared

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become a full-time position? Will it ever get serious? Find out on next week’s episode of “True Life: I’m A Senior In College.” Recently, I was getting my eyebrows waxed when the bubbly stylist popped the “What are your post-grad plans” question in hopes of distracting me from

Emily Hower CONTRIBUTING EDITOR the pain, to which I casually replied, “I don’t know yet.” Then, she followed up with, “Are you dating anyone?,” to which I replied, “No.” Not much of a conversation starter, but she did take my attention away from the hot wax — I smiled to myself upon discovering yet another parallel between getting hired and dating. Whether you’re conversing with your

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eyebrow-waxer or a chatty Uber driver, the two questions are so often coupled together in small talk with strangers. Both processes — that of finding a job and a significant other — are equal parts thrilling and anxiety-inducing to say the least. As of now, I’ve yet to commit to a job or another person, and I’m not complaining. To seniors in a frenzy over not finding the perfect first job: don’t settle. Keep searching — because just like the pursuit for a significant other, you don’t want to rush it. As tiring as it is to be caught in the throes of the dating-job-searchingrecent-graduate game, I try to enjoy the processes and remain optimistic about the outcomes. Though it’s an emotional time, I realize the feelings are fleeting, which makes the uncertainty bearable. Don’t let short-term inevitable anxiety on the job hunt paralyze you from losing sight of the bigger picture. It’s better to invest the time seeking the right opportunities now than regret not putting the effort in later. Keep submitting your applications into the internet void and logging it every time you do. Unemployed or newly hired alike, toss your graduation cap in the air knowing that the future is yours to flirt with — whether it be with a job recruiter or a new Tinder match. Also, to clarify: No, I do not have a “Date Me” spreadsheet for logging past, present or future romantic partners. But it wouldn’t be an inapplicable idea. Emily is a contributing editor at The Pitt News. This is her debut column, and probably her last. Write to Emily at ekhower25@gmail. com.

from the editorial board

Public access to body camera footage holds police accountable In Pennsylvania, whether police officers will wear body cameras is, thankfully, no longer up for debate. They will, but the public viewing and obtaining of footage is turning into a contentious issue. The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania hosted a panel discussion in Lawrenceville Thursday night to discuss how footage gathered from police body cameras can be disseminated. The panel was a result of a new bill — Senate Bill 560 — pending in the state Senate that would allow law enforcement or prosecutors to deny public record requests for videos if they think it’s potential evidence in a criminal investigation. If the bill passes, it would mean police departments, as opposed to an outside body, are the ones allowed to make decisions about when to release footage — even if it’s one of their own officers in question. The state implemented the use of body cameras in late 2016 but wide range support for cameras on police officers first began after the Black Lives Matter movement brought issues of police brutality and mistreatment of minorities to the forefront of American

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politics in 2013. Many law enforcement agencies were quick to institute policies that demand their officers wear body cameras — police departments in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., were among the first. But legislation that stops that footage from being freely available swiftly turns a tool that was meant to protect the public into one that protects police. Similar laws either already exist or are being proposed in states around the country. North Carolina passed a bill last July that body camera footage is no longer considered public record. New Hampshire signed a similar law in June that only considers body camera recordings public record if they show the officer using force or discharge of a gun. Minnesota also exempts body camera videos from public record unless the officer’s force results in substantial harm. Many of these laws are meant to protect officers in the event they make a mistake or mishandle a situation, but some worry making the footage publicly accessible would be an infringement on officer’s privacy. But having an official recording of incidents doesn’t mean officers will face negative backlash from

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videos. It just provides more incentive for them to do their jobs right. Having such footage can help the public understand what an officer saw and thought, helping to justify their actions. And regardless of whether body camera footage is open to the public or not, there will still be recordings. Bystanders filming violent police interactions on cell phones is nothing new. It’s something we see often today as many Americans become more skeptical of law enforcement and how officers do their jobs. Just last week, the president of the Columbus, Ohio, police union claimed cell phone footage of one of his officers kicking a suspect in the head was invalid and unrepresentative of what actually happened. The video is from a distance and a bit grainy, and although it’s fairly clear the cop used unnecessary force, the minor details such as where and how he kicked the man can still be hard to see. Given recent history, it’s easy to quickly jump to conclusions and assume the officer was in the wrong. But if we were able to see body camera footage from the scene, we could more easily know what really See Editorial on page 8

Editorial, pg. 7

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happened. And footage from an officer is going to be a much more reliable way to see what truly happened than relying on shoddy cell phone videos. It’s just like video replay in a football game: the official may make one call on the field, but upon closer examination of the footage, the decision can be proven right or overturned. But in order for that process to work fairly and properly, the police can’t be the ones allowed to decide whether they will grant the public access to the videos or not. Such a law could quickly be abused and ultimately undermine the goal of using body cameras to begin with. Those who oppose the idea of increasing public access to body camera footage also raise concerns about the privacy of both officers and subjects. But as a servant of the public, a police officer isn’t entitled to complete privacy when doing their job. And since that job allows them to use deadly force, we should be able to see them doing it — and help determine if they’re abusing it. We don’t want to see every facet of their lives while on duty. We just want

to know that while they’re keeping us safe, they’re also treating us right. In almost any public realm, from the grocery store to the bank to restaurants, cameras are there to watch us, so we should be able to ask the same of our public servants while they’re in the public sphere as well. For those being recorded, privacy issues regarding victims of violent crime such as abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault or crime taking place on private property raise legitimate issues. The ACLU of Pennsylvania argues that protecting the privacy of victims and keeping footage open to the public aren’t mutually exclusive. We can still have publicly available footage and protect the privacy of victims by redacting faces of victims, bystanders and witnesses and excluding videos captured inside homes. The point of body cameras should be to increase accountability among police officers and foster trust and transparency between police and the communities they serve. They aren’t meant to act as evidence in possible investigations, so we shouldn’t pass legislation that makes that their main priority.

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April 17, 2017

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Sports

weekend tennis and track and field recaps online

Blue & Gold Gamee photo gallery online

HURRICANES BLOW PAST PANTHERS, TAKE TWO OF THREE

KEITH GAVIN NAMED HEAD WRESTLING COACH Steve Rotstein Sports Editor

Heather Lyke made the first big hire of her tenure as Pitt’s athletic director Friday morning, naming former national champion Keith Gavin as the Panthers’ new wrestling head coach. “We are thrilled to announce Keith Gavin as the new head coach of the University of Pittsburgh wrestling program,” Lyke said in a press release. “He has an exceptional wrestling pedigree and is one of the top dynamic coaches in the wrestling profession.” The move should steady the Pitt wrestling program nearly three months after Jason Peters’ midseason dismissal Jan. 19, which came after an incident during the team’s trip to Evanston, Illinois, for the Midlands Championships. Matt Kocher and Drew Headlee served as co-head coaches for the rest of the 2016-17 season. Gavin is Pitt’s most recent national champion wrestler, having brought home the 174-pound title in 2008 after finishing as the national runner-up in 2007. This will be his first head coach gig after spending last year as an assistant coach at Oklahoma University and the two seasons before that as an assistant at the University of Virginia. Gavin ranks eighth in program history with 120 wins and was a two-time Eastern Wrestling League champion, two-time EWL Wrestler of the Year and a member of the EWL Hall of Fame. He made it to the national finals in 2007, where he dropped an 8-2 decision to Missouri’s Ben Askren. Askren was the most

Dan Hammer gave up just one run in 5 2/3 innings, but that was all the Hurricanes needed in their 1-0 victory. Elaina Zachos SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Kait French Staff Writer

The Pitt baseball team started the weekend with a convincing win over a historic national powerhouse. But the Panthers’ bats scored just three runs in the next two games to drop their weekend series against the Miami Hurricanes. The Hurricanes (17-19, 9-9 ACC) usually dominate the Panthers (15-17, 7-11 ACC) and the Pitt baseball team entered the three-game set with no wins over Miami to its name in program history. But the Miami program, which has won four national titles over the years, has suffered from a losing record so far this season. The Panthers looked poised to seize a rare opportunity to win a series against the Hurricanes after a 10-3 victory in Game One, but Pitt dropped the next two games and the set against the University of Miami. Game One See New Coach on page 13

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The Panthers combined effective pitching with timely hitting to come away with a series opening win over the Hurricanes. Redshirt junior Josh Mitchell took the mound for the Panthers in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, showing resilience early. After a scoreless first frame, Miami redshirt senior Edgar Michelangeli hit an RBI single to left to put the Hurricanes on the board. Mitchell gave up a single and hit a batter to load the bases with one out. He then struck out the next batter before inducing an inning-ending grounder to get out of the jam. In the bottom of the second, the Panthers responded by scoring three runs to take the lead they’d hold for the rest of the game. First-year Nico Popa walked into the batter’s box for the Panthers with the bases loaded. Popa rose to the occasion, unleashing a triple to right which cleared the bases and gave Pitt a 3-1 ad-

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vantage. Two batters later, redshirt junior Caleb Parry plated two more with a single to right field, expanding Pitt’s lead to four. Mitchell encountered some more trouble in the top of the fourth, after loading the bases without recording an out. Instead of trusting his starter to work out of the jam, head coach Joe Jordano went to his bullpen, bringing in firstyear R.J. Freure. Freure forced a grounder, but the Panthers elected to throw to second to get the out, conceding a run. Freure walked the next batter, so Jordano brought in another reliever to end the inning — this time senior Sam Mersing. Mersing struck out the next two batters, getting the Panthers out of the inning without further damage. “When we got the 5-1 lead I just felt like we See Baseball on page 12

ORANGE ALERT: PITT SWEPT BY SYRACUSE Bayard Miller

Game Two In the fourth inning, Syracuse loaded up the bases with one The Panthers fared a little better in their second game on Friout. Aft er an RBI single from junior fi rst baseman Faith Cain, Assistant Sports Editor day, as the team avoided the mercy rule and scored its first run of Aprile replaced Knight with sophomore Sarah Dawson. Going into the weekend series against the evenly matched SyrDawson managed to minimize the damage, only giving up one the weekend. But the Panthers’ pitching couldn’t quiet the Orange’s acuse Orange, the Pitt softball team expected a competitive game. run and one hit before finishing the inning. But the Orange still bats and Pitt dropped the game by a score of 8-1. After three straight losses, the Panthers came out to claim last place Syracuse jumped out to another early lead, as senior Sydney enjoyed a seven-run lead by the middle of the fourth. in the ACC standings. The Orange only needed six innings to defeat the Panthers. Af- O’Hara smacked a double to left field to put the Orange on top, 1-0. The Panthers scored just four runs over the course of three But the Panthers tied the score in the bottom of the second ter scoring one more in the top of the sixth, the mercy rule came games against the Orange, whose record matches Pitt’s with 21 vicinning after senior Kaitlin Manuel took a walk, forcing home the into effect and the seventh inning was ruled unnecessary. tories this season. equalizing run. “We just needed more offensive From then on, Syracuse domipressure,” head coach Holly Aprile nated the game. said after Saturday’s loss. After plating one run in the Junior Giorgiana Zeremenko was fourth, Syracuse hit two three-run the lone offensive bright spot for the home runs in the fifth and sixth, Panthers, impressing Saturday afterrespectively, to take an 8-1 lead noon by hitting two home runs over over the Panthers. the centerfield fence. Knight took the loss for the But her offensive efforts alone game after giving up two runs on weren’t enough and couldn’t prevent eight hits over 3 2/3 innings. But the Pitt softball team (21-19, 4-14 she still had a better day in the cirACC) from being swept by the Syracle than Dawson, who allowed six cuse Orange (24-15, 6-9 ACC) this runs on six hits over 3 1/3 innings. weekend. Meanwhile, the Panthers manGame One aged just two hits in the contest as The Panthers began the first of the team lost the series to the Ortheir two games on Friday poorly, ange with a game left to go. falling into an early hole against the Game Three Orange. For the third straight game, Junior pitcher Kayla Harris, who Syracuse scored in the first inning, started in the circle for Pitt, could not putting the Panthers at an early find her rhythm in the first inning Alexee Haynes got a hit in both games of Friday’s doubleheader, but the Panthers dropped disadvantage en route to a seriesand finished the frame only after giv- both contests on the way to getting swept by the Syracuse Orange. Anna Bongardino STAFF sweeping win for the Orange. PHOTOGRAPHER ing up four runs. A double from Cain put the Harris began her outing by loadThe Panthers were given a chance to extend the game in the Orange ahead 1-0 in the first frame of the game. ing the bases with no outs, giving up two singles and a walk to the bottom of the inning, but couldn’t score and the contest ended After Syracuse scored one more run in the third inning, redfirst three batters. The Orange capitalized, accruing two more hits with an 8-0 Syracuse victory. shirt junior Olivia Martinez smoked one over the left field wall for before the end of the frame, including a bases-clearing double by The Panthers managed just four hits in the game, including a a solo home run in the fourth, giving Syracuse a three-run lead. first-year shortstop Hannah Dossett. single and a double from Zeremenko. Unfortunately for Pitt, none In the bottom of the inning, Zeremenko attempted to claw her First-year Brittany Knight took the circle in the second, but the of these hits drove in runs and the team was shutout to start its Orange scored one against her to extend their lead to five. See Softball on page 12 three-game weekend set against the Orange.

pittnews.com

April 17, 2017

Baseball, pg. 10

and the senior pitcher finished after giving up two runs on five hits and four walks. But Mersing, who came on in relief in the seventh inning, couldn’t escape from the mound unscathed either. In the top of the seventh inning with runners on first and second with one out, Mersing gave up an RBI single to Miami junior Carl Chester, making the score 3-1 Hurricanes. In the bottom of the frame, Parry smacked a single to right field, plating Popa and cutting the deficit back to one. But after Jordano brought in junior Isaac Mattson to pitch in the eighth, Michelangeli smashed a two-run homerun to left center in the ninth to put Miami on top 5-2. The Panthers staged an attempted comeback in the bottom of the ninth and Pazos scored from third on a sacrifice fly from Wright, but one run wasn’t enough for the Panthers to overcome the Hurricanes. With Saturday’s 5-3 loss, the Panthers dropped the series to Miami and fell to sixth place in the ACC Coastal Division out of seven teams. The Panthers’ next game takes place Tuesday afternoon in State College, Pennsylvania, as Pitt matches up against the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Softball, pg. 11 team back into the game by hitting a two-run home run over the center field wall to cut the Orange’s lead to one. “I thought it was gonna be a pop up, I thought [the center fielder] was gonna catch it,” Zeremenko said of her fourth inning blast. “But then it started to carry, and I saw her stand up to the wall, then I saw her start to climb the wall and I was like,‘Oh gosh,’ and she gave really good effort but just couldn’t come down with it.” Zeremenko smashed one more homer to center in the sixth to put the Panthers third and final run on the board. But Syracuse managed to plate four more runners over the game’s last three innings to complete the sweep over Pitt and win the game 7-3. Knight finished her day in the circle after 5 1/3 innings, during which she gave up 11 hits and five runs, four of which were earned. Coming into the game in relief, Dawson pitched 2 2/3 innings, allowing two runs off four hits. Next, the Panthers will travel to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Pitt news crossword 4/17/17

needed to make as many moves as possible to put us in the best position to win,” Jordano said in a press release. “Sam did a great job. He’s been really rock solid for us, pounded the zone, got out of a couple of jams and did a super job for us. We really needed that.” Senior Manny Pazos singled in the fifth to bring in another run, making the score 6-2 Panthers. After junior Nick Banman and senior P.J. DeMeo each recorded two RBI singles in the sixth inning, the Panthers held a huge 10-2 lead. Miami plated one more run with one out in the top of the ninth, but Mersing closed out the game with a double play to snap Pitt’s 12game losing streak against the Miami baseball program. Game Two First-year Dan Hammer pitched well in his first career ACC start, giving up just one run and three hits over 5 2/3 innings. But Hammer received no run support from his offense and gave up the losing run in a 1-0 pitchers’ duel. Hammer gave up just one hit through the first four innings and no runs, but his shutout bid ended when he allowed a solo home run to left field by Michelangeli, giving the Hurricanes

a 1-0 lead. Hammer finished the fifth without further damage, but after loading the bases with two outs in the sixth, Jordano replaced Hammer with first-year Chris Gomez. Gomez struck out the next batter, keeping the Hurricanes within one. But the Panthers couldn’t muster any offense, getting just two hits and striking out nine times during the second game of Friday’s doubleheader. Pitt went quietly in the bottom of the ninth, as the Hurricanes retired the Panthers’ batters in order to tie up the weekend series at one game apiece. Game Three In the rubber match of the series, the Hurricanes grabbed an early lead and didn’t let go, winning 5-3 and gaining victory in the three game set. In the top of the first inning, senior pitcher Josh Falk put runners on the corners with just one out. Miami seized its opportunity to claim the lead, as two Hurricanes players hit singles to plate one run each. In the bottom of the fifth, redshirt senior Jacob Wright singled into center field, bringing home first-year Alex Amos to bring the Panthers within one run of Miami. Jordano took out Falk after the sixth inning

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April 17, 2017

New Coach, pg. 10 dominant wrestler in the country at the time, having won 86 matches in a row entering the contest. Still, Gavin took the action right to him, scoring the first takedown of the match and leading after the first period before Askren came back to win. The next year, he capped off his career with an undefeated senior season and a national championship title after defeating Michigan’s Steve Luke 4-2 in the NCAA finals. After graduating from Pitt, Gavin spent one year with the team working as an assistant coach with the middle and upper weight classes. He then embarked on a successful freestyle career, wrestling as a member of the United States national team for more than six years. He placed third at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials, along with a pair of runner-up finishes at the 2010 and 2014 World Team Trials. Gavin joined Virginia as an assistant in 2014 and helped guide the Cavaliers to the 2015 ACC Championship while qualifying seven wrestlers for the NCAA Championships. He left UVA to become an assistant coach at Oklahoma for the 2016-17 season, where he helped coach the Sooners to a second-place finish at the 2017 Big 12 Championships with eight national qualifiers. This year, the Panthers endured a tumultuous season that included the dismissal of Peters and senior 149-pounder Mikey Racciato, as well as an 0-3 start in ACC competition. But the team ended the year strong by crowning three individual ACC champions. Pitt sent four wrestlers to the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, but none were able to earn All-American status. One of the team’s top wrestlers, sophomore TeShan Campbell, will not be around to compete under Gavin, as he is transferring to Ohio State University in the fall. The 2008 Pitt graduate seems excited to return to his alma mater to take the reins of a program in desperate need of coaching stability. “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to come back to the University of Pittsburgh as the head wrestling coach,” Gavin said in the release. “I would like to thank Heather Lyke, Marcus Bowman and everyone on the search committee for believing in my ability to lead this program. I am eager to get to work.”

pittnews.com

April 17, 2017