University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
1-0
Saint Louis
0-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitt | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 14 | 1 |
| Saint Louis | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 1 |
Pitt Pounds Saint Louis, 18-1
2/13/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team opened its 2015 season with a resounding 18-1 victory against Saint Louis in the first game of the Snowbirds Challenge at Charlotte Sports Park, home of the Tampa Bay Rays spring training facilities.
Leading only 3-1 after four innings, Pitt began to pull away scoring 10 runs over the next two innings and 15 in the final five innings, plating at least one run each frame.
Pitt’s 18 runs and 17-run win margin were its most since a 24-7 victory against Youngstown State on April 9, 2013. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the Panthers’ most runs scored on opening day. That came in 2001 when Pitt defeated Albany 21-10 in just six innings. It was, however, the largest margin of win on opening day in school history. Overall, the 17-run win is tied for the 14th-largest margin of victory in school history.
The Panthers improved to 33-40 in season openers all-time, but under head coach Joe Jordano that mark is 11-7. This is the third straight opening day win for Pitt.
Saint Louis wasn’t a slouch of an opponent by any means. The Billikens are three-time defending Atlantic-10 champions and were predicted to win the conference once again this season. The 18 runs were the most Saint Louis has given up in a game since April 7, 2010.
Pitt pounded out 14 hits, six of them for extra bases, with four players recording at least two hits apiece. A total of nine players, including seven starters, finished with a base hit. It wasn’t just Pitt hitting the ball, either. The team displayed great patience at the plate as well, equaling its 14 hits with 14 walks. The 14 walks were the most by the team since at least the 2009 season.
Senior Jordan Frabasilio led all players with three hits, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two runs batted in and three runs scored. He reached base in each of his first five plate appearances. Junior Ron Sherman was 2-for-4 with a triple, four RBIs and two runs scored in his first game as a Panther. Sophomores Caleb Parry and Manny Pazos were both a perfect 2-for-2 with one RBI and one run. Parry was the starting designated hitter while Pazos came off the bench midway through the contest.
Sophomore T.J. Zeuch made his first career opening day start and didn’t disappoint. The towering righty last 6.0 innings, giving up just one run on six hits while striking out a career-high nine batters. Zeuch’s previous personal best in strikeouts was seven.
Juniors Aaron Sandefur and Rich Condeelis pitched well in relief of Zeuch. Sandefur went two innings, allowing one hit and striking out three, while Condeelis fanned two batters and gave up a hit in one inning of work.
After each team left a runner stranded in the first inning, the Panthers opened the scoring on Frabasilio’s solo shot with one out in the second. It was the first opening day homer by a Panther since Feb. 19, 2010 when Joe Leonard went yard.
Saint Louis answered back in the bottom half of the inning on three straight hits, but that’s all the Billikens would get on the day. Jake Henson hit a one out double and back-to-back singles by Trent Leimkuehler and Danny Mannion brought him in.
The Panthers added two runs in the next half inning to take the lead for good and never looked back. With two outs, Parry doubled to left center and senior Boo Vazquez traded places with him on his two-bagger to right. Two batters later, Frabasilio smacked a single through the left side to set the score at 3-1.
Still clinging to a two-run lead, Pitt broke the game wide open in the fifth and six innings, send nine batters to the plate each time and adding 10 more runs to its total to make the score 13-1.
The first three batters of fifth all walked and left the bases loaded for junior Aaron Schnurbusch, who drove in two runs with a double to left center. At that point, Saint Louis replaced pitchers, but the result was still the same when freshman Charles LeBlanc walked to load the bases again. During Leblanc’s at bat, senior Eric Hess, who reached base five times on four walks and a hit by pitch, scooted home on a wild pitch.
Sherman then roped a single up the middle, plating another run to up the score to 7-1. Sherman displayed heads-up base running throughout the inning as well. First, on his hit he took second on the throw home, and then went to third on sophomore Jacob Wright’s sacrifice fly. Those moves put Sherman in a position to score on Parry’s sacrifice fly and gave Pitt a 9-1 advantage.
In the following inning Sherman was back at it again. This time with the bases loaded Sherman used his speed and power to clear the bases with a three-run triple. He came around to score one batter later on Wright’s RBI single through the right side.
Meanwhile, Zeuch was cruising through his first outing of the season. Between the third and sixth innings, Zeuch didn’t allow a hit in a span of 14 straight batters, in which only two of those reached base on an error and a hit batsman.
It seemed Zeuch was getting stronger as the game wore on. He had seven of his career-high nine strikeouts in the final four innings, and after allowing a single in the sixth, Zeuch struck out the final batter he faced. It was his fourth strikeout in the last five batters.
Offensively, Pitt wasn’t done yet. The Panthers tacked on five more runs over the last three innings for the final score.
The Panthers loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on a pinch hit single by Pazos, catcher’s interference and a walk. A groundout by redshirt freshman Frank Maldonado sent Pazos across home.
In the eighth, a pair of walks brought up Pazos with one out and he drove in a run on his second single of the game. Sophomore Nick Yarnall, who entered the game in the sixth, also came in on a wild pitch.
Maldonado completed the scoring for the game in the ninth with his first career homer in just his second career at-bat. After Hess walked for the fourth and final time, Maldonado took a 3-1 pitch the opposite way into the Pitt bullpen in right field to extend Pitt’s lead to 18-1.
Pitt continues its stay in Port Charlotte when it plays Kansas State on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 11 a.m.
Players Mentioned
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Zeuch, T.J. (1-0)
L: MOORE (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Parry, Caleb 1 ; Vazquez, Boo 1 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 1
3B: Sherman, Ron 1
HR: Frabasilio, Jordan 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1
RBI: Wright, Jacob 2 ; Parry, Caleb 1 ; Vazquez, Boo 1 ; Pazos, Manny 1 ; Frabasilio, Jordan 2 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 2 ; Maldonado, Frank 2 ; Sherman, Ron 4
SH: Wright, Jacob 1
SF: Wright, Jacob 1 ; Parry, Caleb 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Parry, Caleb 1 ; Yarnall, Nick 1 ; Vazquez, Boo 1 ; Kowalczyk, Alex 1 ; Pazos, Manny 1 ; Frabasilio, Jordan 3 ; Hess, Eric 2 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 2 ; Maldonado, Frank 1 ; Leblanc, Charles 2 ; Sherman, Ron 2 ; DeMeo, P.J. 1
HBP: Hess, Eric 1 ; Leblanc, Charles 1
Batting:
2B: HENSON 1
RBI: MANNION 1
Base Running:
RUNS: HENSON 1
HBP: BOZARTH 1
