YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO. – Twenty hits lifted the University of Pittsburgh baseball team to a 17-5 victory over Youngstown State Wednesday evening at Eastwood Field in Youngstown, Ohio.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)
The Pitt bats were hot from the start, as singles from Charles Leblanc and Alex Kowalczyk, and a hit by pitch to Nick Yarnall loaded the bases with two outs. Despite the early offensive charge, Pitt was unable to bring a runner around.
In the Youngstown State half of the frame, starter Sam Mersing was stellar, retiring the side in order with a strikeout and a pair of groundouts.
The Panthers broke it open in the second inning, as six runs came across off of six hits. Aaron Schnurbusch led things off with a full-count walk but was called out at second following a fielder’s choice by Matt Johnson. Manny Pazos reached on a fielding error, putting two on with two outs for Frank Maldonado. Continuing his hot streak, Maldonado would send stand-up triple into left center, bringing the pair around.
Leblanc smacked his second single in as many innings, scoring Maldonado in the next at bat. A single from Kowalczyk would put a pair on for Yarnall who singled down the right field line to plate Leblanc and put Pitt up 4-0. Back-to-back singles from Ronnie Sherman and Schnurbusch would score two more for Pitt as the Panthers jumped out to an early 6-0 advantage.
Youngstown State cut the lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the frame as back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning scored an early run. A passed ball would allow the second runner of the inning to score.
In the bottom of the third, the Penguins added two more to pull within two of the Panther lead. A hit by pitch started the inning for Web Charles as a single from Billy Salem put a pair on. A single down the right field line from Andrew Kendrick and a fielder’s choice from Gerrad Rohan would score the duo before back-to-back strikeouts from relief pitcher Tyler Garbee closed out the stanza.
Pitt didn’t let up in the third as five more runs would extend the lead to 11-4. Kowalczyk led off the inning with a single to left field, moving to second on a balk. In the next at bat, Yarnall sent a single to center field, allowing Kowalczyk to score. Sherman took a full-count walk to put a pair on for the Panthers before two quick strikeouts would put the Panthers down two outs. Continuing to excel with two outs against them, Pazos would double to right center to score Yarnall and a walk to Jacob Wright would chase the second Penguin pitcher of the game.
With a fresh arm on the mound, Maldonado would single up the middle, scoring Sherman and Leblanc would single to center to score Pazos, giving Pitt the seven-run advantage.
Garbee was stellar in the fourth, retiring the side in order.
Yarnall led off the fifth inning, taking a pitch to the shoulder. A walk from Schnurbusch would put runners on first and second before a double by Yanni would score both as Pitt closed out the frame with the 13-4 advantage.
A single through the left side would score a run for the Penguins in the bottom of the fifth, as Youngstown State attempted to chip away at the 13-5 Pitt lead.
Both offenses were silent in the sixth as Collin Liberatore entered the game on the hill for Pitt, tossing a three up three down outing with a pair of strikeouts.
Pitt added two more runs in seventh as Chentouf led off the frame with a hit by pitch, moving to third on a single from Yanni. Chentouf would score on a wild pitch before a single from Jawan McAllister brought Yanni home.
Two more runs for the Panthers in the eighth extend the Pitt lead to 17-5. Joe McHugh and Yarnall would each take pitches, moving into scoring position on a wild pitch. A two-RBI single from Chentouf brought around the duo.
With the victory, Pitt improves to 18-14-0 on the season, winners of three straight.
A trio of Panthers recorded three hits on the game as Maldonado went 3-of-5 with three RBIs, two triples, a walk and a run scored. Kowalczyk went 3-of-4 with two runs scored and Leblanc went 3-of-6 with three RBIs, one run scored and a walk.
On the hill, Garbee gets the win, going 3.0 innings, giving up three hits, one run, three walks and two strikeouts to improve to 1-2 on the year.
Pitt will return to the diamond this weekend when it welcomes Miami (Ohio) to Charles L. Cost Field for a three-game series. Pitt will resume ACC action the following weekend as reigning national champion Virginia visits the Cost.
NOTES: The victory is the 812th career win and 528th victory at Pitt for head coach Joe Jordano … Pitt improves to 32-7-1 all-time over Youngstown State … Jawan McAllister recorded his first career hit and first career RBI in the top of the seventh … Alex Griffith recorded his first career hit in the top of the eighth … Frank Maldonado has recorded multiple hit games in four straight contests … Charles Leblanc recorded three hits on the game, his fifth three-hit performance and 18th multiple hit game of the season … Maldonado added three hits in the game, his fourth three-hit performance and 12th multiple hit game of the season … Alex Kowalczyk recorded three hits on the game, his fourth three-hit performance of the season and 11th multiple hit game … Nick Yarnall added two hits on the game, his fourth two-hit performance of the season and seventh multiple hit game … David Yanni recorded two hits on the game, his fifth two-hit performance and sixth multiple hit game of the year .. Leblanc added three RBIs for the third time this season, bringing his multiple RBI game total to 10 … Yarnall recorded two RBIs in the game, his fourth two-RBI performance of the season and seventh multiple RBI game … Yanni added a pair of RBIs in the game, his second two-RBI outing and third multiple RBI game of the season … Maldonado added three RBIs for the first time this season, bringing his multiple RBI game total to three … Yaya Chentouf recorded two RBIs, his first career multiple RBI performance … Pitt’s 20 hits mark the most on the season … Pitt hit two triples for the third time this season … the Panthers were hit by seven pitches, the most on the season … Pitt turned two double plays for the fifth time on the year … Maldonado’s two triples were the most hit by a Panther this season … Pitt scored 15 or more runs for the first time since a 15-run performance at Clemson on April 16, 2016 … Pitt smacked 15 or more hits for the first time since a 16-hit outing against Virginia Tech on April 16, 2016 … Maldonado hit two triples, the first for a Panther since Ronnie Sherman hit two against Fairfield on April 25, 2015 … Yarnall was hit by three pitches, the most since Matt Johnson took two against Clemson on April 2, 2016 … the game duration of 4:09 was the longest nine-inning game of the season for Pitt … Maldonado extends his hit streak to seven … Leblanc extended his hit streak to six … Yarnall, Leblanc and Maldonado each extended their reached-base streaks to seven … Pitt improves to 10-9 on the road and 3-6 in night games … the Panthers move to 9-9 in games played on natural grass and 6-4 when wearing gray jerseys … Pitt is now 10-4 against left handed starting pitchers … Pitt moves to 15-2 when leading after six and 17-1 when leading after eight … the Panthers improve to 11-4 when they score first and 12-3 when they score six or more runs … Pitt is now 16-1 when out hitting the opponent and 9-5 when committing two or more errors … the Panthers improve to 6-5 in the month of April and 3-0 on Wednesdays.
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