Pitt’s Historic ACC Baseball Championship Run Comes to an End in Loss to Louisville

Saturday, May 26

Durham, N.C.

1 PM

Pitt

29-26

Louisville

43-16

Pittsburgh

Louisville

Pitt’s Historic ACC Baseball Championship Run Comes to an End in Loss to Louisville

5/26/2018 5:31:00 PM | Baseball

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Panthers Fall to Fifth-Seeded Cardinals, 5-2

DURHAM, N.C. – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team saw its run at the 2018 ACC Baseball Championship come to an end with a 5-2 loss to Louisville Saturday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The 12th-seeded Panthers (29-26) and fifth-seeded Cardinals (43-16) had both reached their first ACC semifinal in program history after going undefeated in pool play earlier this week, but Louisville bested Pitt to advance to Sunday's ACC Championship Game.

Pitt finished with its first winning season since 2013 and produced a memorable debut appearance at the ACC Baseball Championship, which saw the Panthers defeat No. 8 seed Georgia Tech and top-seeded North Carolina in their opening two games.

"I am very proud of not only our team, but their effort. They did a great job," said head coach Joe Jordano. "There's a lot of disappointed guys, because quite frankly we didn't come down here to show well, we came here to win. But, in a bigger context, I think that we'll look back on this and say we had a pretty good week."

Louisville posted an early run in the bottom of the first inning, but Pitt starter Dan Hammer settled in and limited the damage. However, the Cardinals would extend their lead in the fourth inning with a pair of runs to take a 3-0 advantage.

The Panthers threatened in the fifth inning before stranding runners at the corners. But Pitt wouldn't have to wait much longer to get on the scoreboard as Ron Washington Jr. blasted a two-run home run over the fence in right field in the sixth inning, bringing home David Yanni, who had singled to lead off the frame.

That home run was Washington Jr.'s sixth of the season and brought the Panthers within one run, but Louisville regained its three-run advantage in the bottom of the seventh inning on a two-run homer of its own.

Of note for the Panthers, freshman Chris Cappas had his third consecutive multi-hit game of the tournament, senior Frank Maldonado singled in his final at-bat to finish the season with a .300 average to lead the team. Relievers TJ Pagan and Derek West combined to produce 2.2 innings of scoreless pitching from the bullpen.

NOTES: Frank Maldonado's hit was the 200th of his career as he concludes his career at Pitt ranked 13th in hits, eighth in games played (196), seventh in games started (187), eighth in at bats (708), second in triples (16), 11th in total bases (307) and is Pitt's all-time hit by pitch leader (46) … Yasin Chentouf wraps up his third season ranked as Pitt's all-time saves leader (16) and ranked 17th in career ERA (3.09) … It was a historic season for Liam Sabino who wrapped up the year ranked sixth in home runs in a single season (16) … David Yanni finished the year ranked fourth in single season walks (43), joined by Cole MacLaren in 11th (39) … RJ Freure made 27 pitching appearances on the season, which ranks second in program history, Chentouf made 25 (5th) and freshman Chase Smith made 22 (16th) … Chentouf tallied eight saves on the year to rank second in program history in a single season … Matt Pidich struck out 99 batters in his final season which ranks third in program history and is joined by Freure who struck out 95 to rank fifth.

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