Baseball Defeats New Orleans, 3-2, in Season Opener
2/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Baseball Defeats New Orleans, 3-2, in Season Opener
2/20/2004
Senior Tom Cashman had two RBIs to lead Pittsburgh to a 3-2 season-opening victory. |
NEW ORLEANS?Freshman second baseman Jim Negrych hit a game-winning solo homerun in the top of the seventh inning to lead the University of Pittsburgh baseball team to a 3-2 win over the University of New Orleans at Maestri Field on Friday night.
Negrych (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) broke a 2-2 tie when he hit Thomas Diamond?s fastball over the right centerfield wall for his first career homerun and RBI as a Panther. On the night, Negrych posted a game-high three hits including a double in the top of the second inning for is first career Pittsburgh hit.
Senior first baseman Tom Cashman (East Amherst, NY/Erie Comm. College) got Pittsburgh (1-0) on the board first in the third inning when he ripped a double down the rightfield line scoring Peter Parise (Bronx, NY/Cardinal Spellman) and Bryan Spamer (Harrisburg, PA/Redland) to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fourth, New Orleans (3-4) responded with two runs to tie the score at two on a solo homerun by third baseman Jay Yaconetti and a RBI single by catcher Kody Valverde.
The score would remain tied as each team played solid defense until Negrych blasted his homerun to break the tie in the top of the seventh. Highlighting the defensive efforts for Pittsburgh were Parise, Ben Copeland (Bradford, PA/Bradford) and Tony Marciante (Connellsville, PA/Connellsville) who each made key catches in the outfield saving would-be extra bases for New Orleans.
Pittsburgh redshirt senior starting pitcher P.J. Hiser (Hagerstown, MD/Hagerstown CC) held the New Orleans attack at bay in his first start of 2004 by tossing five strong innings and allowing only two runs with six strikeouts. In relief of Hiser, senior T.J. Gornati (Kersey, PA/St. Mary?s) earned his first victory of the season by tossing four innings of one hit baseball and striking out a game-high seven Privateer batters.
The Panthers? offense totaled nine hits on the evening and handed pre-season All-America pitcher Diamond his first loss of the season. Included in the nine-hit night for Pittsburgh was the first career hits for Parise and Marciante as each added a single.
The Panthers return to action Saturday afternoon as they play game two of the three-game series against the Privateers. Game time is set for 1 p.m.
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