For the most part, it was a typical midweek, non-conference college baseball game between teams with significantly more important league games on the horizon.

There were a lot of hits, runs, walks, stolen bases and wind-aided home runs over a short left-field fence at Trees Field as Pitt outlasted Duquesne, 9-8, yesterday.

Pitt (9-17) ended a five-game losing streak as Sean Conley had two home runs and four RBIs and Chris Tonte had a home run and two RBIs.

"Duquesne has been playing extremely well and we've been struggling," Pitt coach Joe Jordano said. "In a situation like this, both teams are going to be thin on pitching. I know Duquesne's got its [pitching] horses ready to go this weekend, and so do we."

Duquesne (13-13), which is 8-1 and tied for first place in the Atlantic 10 Conference, plays host to La Salle in a three-game league series this weekend. Pitt, 2-7 in the Big East, plays three league games at Cincinnati this weekend.

The starters for both teams struggled yesterday. Pitt's Corey Baker allowed eight hits and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings and Duquesne's Joe Lombardo gave up 10 hits and six runs in four innings.

Pitt took a 1-0 lead when Conley hit Lombardo's first pitch for a home run that easily cleared the left-field fence. The Panthers made it 2-0 in the third on Dan Williams' infield single that scored Danny Lopez, who had tripled. The Dukes went up, 4-2, in the fourth with the big blow a three-run home run by Derek Fallecker. The Panthers countered with four in their half of the fourth -- three on Conley's home run -- for a 6-4 lead.

Then it was Duquesne's turn as the Dukes regained the lead, 7-6, with three in the fifth.

The Panthers responded with Tonte's two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth for an 8-7 advantage that lasted until Duquesne tied it, 8-8, in the seventh on pinch-hitter Mark Tracy's RBI single to right.

"We were up, they came back, we came back, they came back and we came back," Jordano said. "We hung tough. I don't care how you do it; it's always nice to talk about a win."

Pitt's winning run came in the eighth, when Lopez walked, stole second and third and scored on Williams' ground-ball single to left.

"That's what we have to do to manufacture runs," said Jordano, whose Panthers play host to Penn State today. "Our pitchers are really banged up."

The winning pitcher against Duquesne was Ricky Breymier (2-1), who finished the game with 1 1/3 scoreless innings.

The losing pitcher for Duquesne was Matt Zerin (1-2), who allowed one run in two innings.