University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Day One of Navy-Vegas World Series Complete
10/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team opened its annual fall intrasquad Navy-Vegas World Series with Navy taking an 8-6 lead at the conclusion of the first day of the three-day competition on Tuesday at Charles L. Cost Field.
The format of this year’s Navy-Vegas Series will differ from its ordinary style. Instead of a best-of-three series, this year the team with the greatest cumulative runs total following the conclusion of Thursday’s game three will be named the winner. Each day will feature a shortened game of just five innings.
Walks and defensive lapses were numerous in today’s contest, allowing multiple big-inning outbursts.
“When we give up free baserunners, I don’t care who we’re playing or at what level, it’s going to hurt you,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “We expect [freshmen] to compete. They were freshmen the day they walked in the door. The day they walked on the field, they were Pitt baseball players.”
Navy was first on the board with a three-run second inning. Redshirt sophomore Frank Maldonado walked to open the frame before taking third on a single from redshirt freshman Joe McHugh that the center fielder launched over the cutoff man. Three more walks in the stanza plated two additional runs.
Freshman Collin Liberatore cruised through the Vegas lineup in the first three innings as the gold-clad squad failed to respond. He finished the day with four strikeouts and no hits or walks allowed.
Navy padded its lead later in the game with a five-run inning that featured hits from Maldonado, freshman Alex Griffith, and senior Aaron Schnurbusch. Multiple walks in the frame stoked the rally.
However, in a cumulative runs competition such as this, every man across the plate counts. Vegas exploded for six runs to end the day, cutting Navy’s final lead to 8-6. Although several reached on free passes, a two-run double from redshirt junior Matt Emge highlighted the effort.
Tomorrow’s game two is slated for 3 p.m. back at Cost Field.
