Jerry DiPaola: 5 decades covering Pittsburgh sports has provided memories to last a lifetime
I guess my love for the written word began on the living room floor at 326 Elizabeth Ave. I was nuts for the Pirates and Pirates box scores, and I used to spread out the Pittsburgh Press newspaper on the floor and devour every detail from the previous day’s game....
Pat Narduzzi will see it all when he evaluates video from Pitt’s Blue-Gold Game
When he sits down to evaluate the snapshots and video from Pitt’s Blue-Gold Game — perhaps more leisurely than usual with no game scheduled until Aug. 30 — Pat Narduzzi will see some good, some bad and even some moments that make him angry. But the one headline from the...
Kenny Pickett returns to Acrisure Stadium for Pitt spring game, recalling what made Panthers ACC champions in 2021
Kenny Pickett stood alone Saturday in a corner of Acrisure Stadium, familiar turf to the former Pitt and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback. While Pitt players — wearing the colors he used to wear — warmed up for the Blue-Gold Game that signifies the end of spring drills, Pickett was thinking about...
Wide receiver Kenny Johnson, cornerback Shadarian Harrison named most improved players during Pitt spring drills
Hours before Pitt’s Blue-Gold Game on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium, coach Pat Narduzzi named wide receiver Kenny Johnson and cornerback Shadarian Harrison winners of the Ed Conway Award, emblematic of the most improved players during spring drills. Johnson, a junior, is the first wide receiver so honored since Tre Tipton...
It’s official: Pitt lands big transfer center from Iowa State
The first of Pitt basketball’s transfer portal additions became official Friday when coach Jeff Capel announced the signing of former Iowa State center Dishon Jackson. Jackson (6-foot-11, 270 pounds) made a verbal commitment to the Panthers on April 4. He has one season of eligibility remaining. “Dishon is an aggressive...
Pitt Take 5: Will hopeful spring translate into a successful fall for Panthers?
Spring football sounds a little like an oxymoron, two words that just don’t fit perfectly into each other. Purists believe football is meant to be played in the fall. Coaches love spring ball, however, for the foundation it lays for summer training camp and how it reveals players with potential...
Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell looks for balance while developing his 4 QBs
Kade Bell can’t sit down with his father, Kerwin, to talk ball as often as he would like, but when they do, the ideas likely fly almost as fast as their offenses move from one play to the next. Often, the subject is quarterbacks, a given considering Kade is Pitt’s...
All eyes on offensive line, linebackers, young running backs as Pitt approaches spring game
If you’re planning to attend Pitt’s Blue-Gold Game on Saturday — admission at Acrisure Stadium is free — you might want to see how and if the offensive line has improved. In Pitt’s spring quest to get ready for summer training camp and set up the team for success in...
Forward Papa Amadou Kante becomes 6th Pitt player to enter transfer portal
Only three scholarship players from this season’s team remain on Pitt’s men’s basketball roster after forward Papa Amadou Kante entered the transfer portal Wednesday, a source confirmed to TribLive. Kante, a redshirt freshman from Dakar, Senegal, missed 2023-24 with a knee injury and played sparingly this season. He joins five...
Pitt notebook: Spring ball provides opportunity for Penn Hills’ Julian Dugger to put lessons learned to work
One look at Pitt’s Julian Dugger immediately tells you he is seriously unlike many of his teammates. And not just because he plays quarterback, the most important position on the field. He stands 6-foot-3 and is 205 pounds, and he is blessed with those long legs built for striding that...
Pitt lands commitment from guard Nojus Indrusaitis, 2nd ex-Iowa State player in 3 days to join Panthers
The process of rebuilding Pitt’s roster continued to go through Ames, Iowa, on Monday when former Iowa State freshman Nojus Indrusaitis committed to coach Jeff Capel. Indrusaitis, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound guard from Lithuania, will join Iowa State teammate and center Dishon Jackson, who pledged Friday to enroll at Pitt. ????...
After entering portal, Jaland Lowe leaves Pitt for Kentucky
Only hours after getting some good news from the transfer portal, Pitt coach Jeff Capel received the worst news Saturday morning when Jaland Lowe, the team’s point guard and best player, committed to Kentucky. A source confirmed the news, originally reported by ESPN, 247Sports.com and On3.com. NEWS: Pitt transfer Jaland...
Pitt gets commitment from former Iowa State center Dishon Jackson
Pitt coach Jeff Capel began the big job of rebuilding his roster Friday when former Iowa State center Dishon Jackson pledged to join the team next season, a source confirmed to TribLive. Jackson (6-foot-11, 274 pounds) started 33 of his 35 games for the Cyclones this season, averaging 8.5 points...
Mitch Keller fails to quiet Yankees’ bats in Pirates’ 9-4 loss in home opener
Mitch Keller’s shoulders remain strong in his seventh big-league season, but they don’t need to carry all the weight of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 2-6 start. Nonetheless, he was willing Friday night to admit the truth after he allowed seven runs and couldn’t finish the fourth inning in the Pirates’ 9-4...
Pitt notebook: Young linebackers, including Aliquippa’s Cam Lindsey, hope to provide depth
The names Kyle Louis, Rasheem Biles and Braylan Lovelace are familiar to Pitt fans as linebackers who made an impact last season as sophomores. But spring football practice is intended to lay a foundation of depth, and that’s where younger linebackers such as sophomore Jeremiah Marcelin and redshirt freshman Cam...
Pitt notebook: Panthers look good in scrimmage, but Pat Narduzzi always will ask for more
The offense committed only one turnover among about 130 plays. Backup quarterback Julian Dugger ran 69 yards for a touchdown. Wide receivers Deuce Spann and Zion Fowler-El made big plays in the passing game. The running game was “solid,” according to Pat Narduzzi. The coach’s overall assessment of Pitt’s closed...
Duquesne’s Ray Goss recognized locally, nationally for play-by-play career spanning 57 years
From Madison Square Garden to Civic Arena to UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse, Ray Goss has been a fixture at Duquesne men’s basketball calling play-by-play for 57 seasons. The grand total of games comes to nearly 2,700, more than half of those played in the program’s 109-year history. This offseason will offer...
Pitt sophomore guard Jaland Lowe enters transfer portal
A bad piece of offseason news struck Pitt basketball Tuesday morning when sophomore point guard Jaland Lowe announced his intention to enter the NCAA transfer portal, a source told TribLive. If he leaves the program, Lowe would be the fifth scholarship player to announce plans to transfer since the end...
David Bednar’s wild pitch, lack of clutch hitting lead to Pirates’ 3-2 loss to Marlins
The inability to perform one of baseball’s most basic and important tasks — hitting safely with runners in scoring position — haunted the Pittsburgh Pirates throughout all four games of their season-opening series in Miami. The Pirates lost three of the four in one-run, walk-off fashion, including 3-2 to the...
Pirates’ Nick Gonzales will have CT scan Monday on ankle fracture
Nick Gonzales, who has a non-displaced ankle fracture, will have a CT scan Monday in Pittsburgh, general manager Ben Cherington said Sunday on his radio show on 93.7 The Fan. “We’ll know a little bit more there, don’t expect that we’re going to learn a lot more,” Cherington said. Gonzales...
Pirates’ Ben Cherington praises Henry Davis’ work behind plate as ‘a weapon at the major-league level’
Catcher Henry Davis started his fifth season in professional baseball in Triple-A Indianapolis, but Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Ben Cherington still believes in Davis, the first player selected in the 2021 MLB Draft. Especially his ability behind the plate. “We really believe in where Henry’s headed,” Cherington said Sunday on...
Pirates waste Bailey Falter’s strong start, lose to Marlins in 12 innings
When Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton reviews the video of his team’s 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins on Saturday, a variety of problems will jump off the screen. • Two of his runners were thrown out at home plate. • Oneil Cruz failed to hit the cutoff man again,...
Pirates notebook: David Bednar notches save in victory against Marlins, hopes it signals even better days ahead
The ninth inning of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 4-3 victory against the Miami Marlins on Friday night lasted 18 pitches and barely seven minutes. Long enough for David Bednar to record his first save of the season and, perhaps, inject the two-time All-Star closer with the swagger and confidence he’ll need...
Oneil Cruz’s 115-mph home run supports Mitch Keller in Pirates’ bounce-back victory
The Pittsburgh Pirates showed Friday night what can happen when the baseball lands where it’s supposed to go — in the fielders’ gloves. After two passed balls, an error and a fly ball that should have been caught turned into the decisive run in an Opening Day loss, the Pirates...
D.J. Smith becomes 5th Robert Morris starter to announce plans to transfer
Guard D.J. Smith made it a clean sweep Friday when he became the fifth member of the Robert Morris starting lineup to announce plans to enter the transfer portal, verbalcommits.com reported. Smith joins former RMU teammates Kam Woods, Alvaro Folgueiras, Amarion Dickerson and Josh Omojafo, all of whom have decided...
