Friday, April 20
Coral Gables, FL
7 PM
Pitt
at
Miami
Pitt Gears Up for Three-Game Battle at Miami
4/19/2018 5:00:00 PM | Baseball
Panthers, Hurricanes Set for Coastal Division Clash
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team will hit the road for a three-game road trip at national powerhouse Miami, facing off with the Hurricanes in an ACC Coastal Division series in Coral Gables, Fla.
The Panthers and Hurricanes will kick things off Friday at 7 p.m., returning to the diamond at 7 p.m. Saturday and wrapping up the series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
HOW TO FOLLOW
The Panthers and Hurricanes will kick things off Friday at 7 p.m., returning to the diamond at 7 p.m. Saturday and wrapping up the series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
HOW TO FOLLOW
- Live stats will be available for all three games here.
- The series can be seen live on the ACC Network Extra via WatchESPN and the WatchESPN app.
- Fans can also follow @Pitt_BASE on Twitter and Instagram.
- Tickets to can be purchased here.
- Pitt (19-15, 8-10 ACC) travels to Coral Gables, Fla., to face off against the Miami Hurricanes in a three-game series this weekend. Pitt enters the game after dropping its Wednesday mid-week contest to Kent State, 2-0. Pitt has won three straight ACC series, taking two games from Virginia, Boston College and Georgia Tech in each of the last three weekends.
- Frank Maldonado has been hot of late, batting a team-best .322 with 38 hits, 16 runs and 27 RBI. Maldonado has tallied a .42 slugging percentage and .404 on base mark, both of which rank second on team. Liam Sabino continues to be a force in the Panther's offense with a .565 slugging percentage and nine home runs, while Ron Washington Jr. has had a huge impact as of late, hitting at a .287 clip with five doubles, two triples and two homers, adding a .410 slugging percentage and a .335 on base mark.
- Sophomore Dan Hammer will get his sixth start of the season Friday, entering the game with a 2-2 record. Hammer returned to the weekend rotation with a resounding performance against Georgia Tech last Friday, going 7.0 innings, allowing three runs off seven hits and three walks, fanning six. Matt Pidich continues to hold down the Saturday spot, coming in to the weekend with a 3.11 ERA with a team-high 55.0 innings pitched. He's allowed just 19 earned runs off 55 hits and 12 walks, whiffing 58. Sunday will see Blair Calvo take the mound, bringing in a 4.50 ERA with a record of 1-2. He has allowed 15 runs off 31 hits and 16 walks, striking out 32 in his first season back since undergoing Tommy John surgery.
- Miami (16-20, 9-9 ACC) has been struggling compared to recent seasons, going 4-9 in its last 13 games. Before the Hurricanes' win against North Carolina on April 8, they had dropped seven games in a row.
- The Hurricanes are young, however, as the majority of their offensive power comes from first-year players. Freshman Freddy Zamora has led the attack, batting at .324 while leading the team in hits (44), RBI (20) and slugging percentage (.449). Willy Escala and Isaac Quinones, both true freshmen, have also made a significant impact in Miami this season. Quinones owns a .323 average and .407 on base percentage, while Escala has 39 hits and 18 runs.
- The Miami starting rotation has been spectacular all season, starting with southpaw Jeb Bargfeldt, who will get the call Friday. Bargfeldt owns a 2-3 record with a 4.26 ERA, having allowed 27 runs off 56 hits and 19 walks, whiffing 33. Saturday will see Evan McKendry on the hill, who owns a mark of 5-4 with a 3.62 ERA. McKendry has let up 22 runs off 46 hits and 21 walks, fanning a team-high 71. Andrew Cabezas will close out the series for the Hurricanes, owning a 3-4 record with a 5.19 ERA. He has surrendered 25 runs off 33 hits and 26 walks, striking out 52.
- Miami holds a 14-1 all-time advantage over the Panthers since the teams' first meeting in 2001. Pitt's sole win over the Hurricanes came last season in game one of a doubleheader at Charles L. Cost Field.
- Last year, Miami traveled to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers, taking two of three after Pitt's victory in the opening game of a doubleheader.
- Pitt is 0-8 in Coral Gables, Fla. all-time.
- Both Frank Maldonado and David Yanni enter the weekend on four-game hit streaks to pace the group, while Cole MacLaren sits at two.
- MacLaren's eight-game reached base streak is the longest active mark by a Panther. Maldonado and Yanni each sit at four, while Nick Banman and Chris Cappas are at two.
- The Panthers have been a solid defensive force this season, boasting the second best fielding percentage in the ACC. Pitt owns a .978 mark, tallying 29 errors, second fewest amongst the 14 ACC schools, adding 918 putouts and 345 assists in 1,292 chances.
- In conference play, the Panthers have put up the top defensive numbers in the ACC, owning a .983 percentage. In ACC action, Pitt has committed just 12 errors, a league-best, while tallying 495 putouts and 198 assists in 705 opportunities.
- Frank Maldonado has made his at bats count this season, quickly tallying his way to a team-best 27 RBI. Over the last 21 games, Maldonado is hitting at a .397 clip, having increased his averageby .122 points in that stretch. He's tallied six doubles and two homers and owns a .562 slugging percentage over the last 21.
- With a spectacular performance against Virginia in which he amassed nine RBI after hitting at a .556 clip, Maldonado now leads the team with a .322 average, totaling six doubles and two homers with a .424 slugging percentage and a .404 on base mark.
- Maldonado owns a .457 (16-35) mark with runners in scoring position, boasting a .857 (12-14) percentage with a runner on third and less than two outs, both of which pace the starting group.
- Maldonado also owns five game winning RBI to lead the team.
- In his three seasons with the Panthers, closer Yaya Chentouf has been a force, and that trend continues in 2018 as he has already accumulated six saves on the year.
- Chentouf ranks fourth in the league in saves and has already tied his single season record of six saves set as a freshman in 2016. Chentouf is Pitt's all-time saves leader, having accumulated 14 in his three year stint.
- Opponents struggle against the righty, who has allowed just nine earned runs off 23 hits and 13 walks in 27.1 innings, whiffing 31 and holding batters to just a .235 average.
- Any time a Pitt batter hits a home run this season, as he crosses the plate fans may notice him sport a gold construction helmet, adorned with the 3-D script P logo and a smattering of numbers of those who have lined one over the wall before. It's the home run helmet.
- Dreamt up by redshirt senior Caleb Parry, the Panthers have used the home run helmet 20 times so far this season, on pace for 32 dingers, two more than their 2017 total. Liam Sabino has seen his number stuck to the helmet a team-best nine times, while David Yanni is at three, Frank Maldonado, Ron Washington Jr., Nico Popa and Nick Banman sit at two.
- Redshirt junior Liam Sabino has knocked nine home runs on the season to pace the Panther offense. Sabino's mark ranks 6th in the ACC, as the leader is Brett Kinneman (13) of NC State. Sabino is on pace for just over 14 homers this season.
- On the season, Sabino has tallied two multiple homer games, smacking two against USC Upstate and Saint Peter's.
- The Vanderbilt transfer has 10 homers in his career, bringing one from his former team.
- Pitt takes a break from ACC play, hosting LIU Brooklyn for three games at Charles L. Cost Field (April 28-29) and Maryland Eastern Shore (May 1-2).
- The Panthers return to league play the following weekend, heading to Notre Dame May 4-6.
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