SOUTH BEND, IND. – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team claimed an 8-5 victory in game two of the weekend series with Notre Dame, clinching the series at Eck Stadium on Saturday evening.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)
“That was a solid team win,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “T.J. (Zeuch) gave us seven solid innings on a tough day to pitch with the wind hawking pretty good. We played well defensively and took advantage of our offensive opportunities. Yarnall got us on the board with the two-run jack in the first and Charles (Leblanc) added a couple more to give us a solid lead. Jake (Wright) also had a solo shot. Once again, the duo of Garrett (Wrambel) and Yaya (Chentouf) closed it out for us.”
The Panther bats were hot from the go, as Charles Leblanc kicked off the first frame with a single to right field. Nick Yarnall would smack a deep home run to right field to score the pair and put the Panthers on top 2-0.
Pitt ace T.J. Zeuch pitched around a pair of lead-off walks in his first frame to hold the Fighting Irish off the board.
The Fighting Irish got the runs back in the bottom of the second, tying things up at 2-2. Lane Richards led off the stanza with a single to left field, moving to second after Zeuch ushered a walk to Kyle Fiala. A groundout by Ryan Lidge would move both runners into scoring position with one out. Zeuch would get Kyle Richardson to groundout but a single to left center from Cavan Biggio would tie things up.
The Panthers regained the lead in the third off of a groundout by Ronnie Sherman. Jacob Wright would take a walk, followed by a single from Leblanc and a walk to Yarnall, loading the bases. Sherman’s 6-4-3 double play would put two outs on the board, but allowed Wright to score and gave the Panthers a 3-2 advantage.
Pitt extended its lead in the sixth as the Panthers’ two-out game continued to shine. Yarnall led off the inning taking a pitch to the elbow, as back-to-bac Panthers were retired to put two outs on the board. Maldonado’s ACC-leading sixth triple would score Yarnall and the outfielder would come home on a wild pitch.
Aaron Schnurbusch reached on an error in the outfield, moving to second before a single from Parry scored Pitt’s third run of the inning.
In the seventh, Wright sent a solo shot over the wall in right field to extend the Pitt lead to 7-2. Leblanc would add his third hit of the game, moving to third on a pair of wild pitches. A single down the right field line would score Leblanc and give the Panthers a six-run lead.
Zeuch settled in following the two-run second inning as the righty retired 13 straight batters into the seventh. The Mason, Ohio native would get into a bit of trouble in the seventh frame as a walk and single put two on. A double by Lidge would score the pair, cutting Pitt’s lead to 8-4.
Zeuch would get the second out on a groundout by Richardson, but a double by Biggio would plate another as the Panthers lead diminished to 8-5. The Panthers escaped the inning on a groundout by Nick Podkul.
Garrett Wrambel would come on in relief of Zeuch in the eighth inning as the senior inherited the 8-5 lead. The senior would retire the side in order to hold the Pitt advantage.
The Panthers failed to boost their lead in the top of the ninth as they stranded Yarnall at second.
Yaya Chentouf would enter the game in the bottom of the frame as he looked to secure his second save of the series. The freshman earned his sixth save of the season as he retired the side in order, ending the game with a strikeout to give the Panthers an 8-5 win.
Leblanc led the offensive charge, going 3-of-5 with two runs scored. Yarnall went 1-of-2 with two RBIs and a pair of runs scored, while Wright, Yanni, Maldonado and Parry each added an RBI.
Zeuch earned his sixth win of the season, improving to 6-1 in eight starts. Chentouf earned his sixth save, second straight, as he lowered his ERA to 1.02.
The Panthers will look to earn the series sweep tomorrow as they take on the Fighting Irish at 1 p.m. from Eck Stadium on the campus of Notre Dame.
Notes: The win is the 818th career victory for head coach Joe Jordano and the 535th in his tenure at Pitt … the Panthers improve to 2-6 over the Irish since joining the ACC three seasons ago … Frank Maldonado has now hit an ACC-best six triples on the season … Nick Yarnall recorded his ninth home run of the season and 13th of his career… Jacob Wright added his third home run of the season and third of his career … Leblanc added three hits for the seventh time on the season, bringing his multiple hit game total to a team-high 22 … Yarnall recorded a pair of RBIs for the sixth time on the season, bringing his multiple RBI game total to nine .. Wright extended his hit-streak to five games … Leblanc, Yarnall, Maldonado and Yanni extended their hit streaks to two … Leblanc extended his reached-base streak to 17 … Aaron Schnurbusch extended his reached-base streak to 11 … Pitt improves to 12-9 on the road and 6-5 in road ACC contests … the Panthers improve to 19-11 in day games and 15-9 in games played on turf … Pitt is now 7-4 when wearing gray jerseys … the Panthers improve to 13-13 when facing right handed starting pitchers … Pitt is now 21-4 when leading after six and 22-2 when leading after eight … Pitt improves to 17-5 when scoring first and 15-5 when scoring six or more runs … the Panthers improve to 20-1 when out-hitting their opponents and 13-5 when recording at least one home run … the Panthers improve to 13-11 when committing one or no errors .. Pitt is now 3-2 in the month of May and 7-5 on Saturdays.
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