Baseball Falls To Kansas State, 7-0

Saturday, February 14

Port Charlotte, Fla.

11:00 AM

Pitt

2-0

Kansas State

1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Kansas State	0	0	3	1	0	0	1	2	0	7	6	1
Pitt	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	3

Baseball Falls To Kansas State, 7-0

2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 14, 2015

Box Score

Follow @PITTBASEBALL

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Pitt baseball team dropped a 7-0 decision to Kansas State in its second game of the Snowbirds Classic on Saturday, Feb. 14 at North Charlotte Regional Park.

Pitt (1-1) matched Kansas State (2-0) hit-for-hit as each team finished with six on the day. The only difference was that the Wildcats capitalized on both their chances and Pitt's miscues, while the Panthers failed to cash in on their opportunities. On the day, Pitt left 11 runners on base, including seven of them in scoring position, compared to five total left on base by KSU. Three Panthers errors also led to four unearned runs.

Of Pitt's six hits, all of which were singles, freshman Charles LeBlanc and sophomore Nick Yarnall accounted for two apiece.

Junior Marc Berube made his first career start for Pitt, giving up three hits and three runs in 3.0 innings. Sophomore Matt Pidich put together a fantastic outing in relief, striking out six batters and allowing just one hit and two runs (one earned) in 3.2 innings. Pitt also got a strong inning from redshirt freshman Josh Mitchell, who made his collegiate debut.

After two innings of scoreless baseball, Kansas State struck first with three runs in the top of the third. The Wildcats loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk, and with one out Keith Browning sent a long fly to the right corner that redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright misplayed. The error allowed two runs to score and left a runner on third after Browning was caught in a rundown. The next batter, Shane Conlon, walked and eventually was caught in a rundown too attempting to steal. But another run was able to come across the plate before Conlon was tagged out, giving Kansas State a three run cushion.

The Wildcats added another run to its lead in next inning without getting a hit. After Steve Serratorre was hit by a Pidich to lead off the frame, Serratorre proceeded to make his way around the bases thanks to two balks and a wild pitch.

Pitt had its chances throughout the first four innings, but couldn't plate any runs and left six runners on base. In the first inning it was back-to-back singles by Yarnall and senior Boo Vazquez that put runners on the corners with one out. Two innings later and down by three now, the Panthers had two on and one out after base knocks by redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright and Yarnall. After a fielder's choice, Pitt had both runners in scoring position but couldn't bring them home. In the fourth, Leblanc executed a hit-and-run giving Pitt runners on the corners once again.

The Panthers continued to struggle offensively throughout the game, but Pidich's success on the mound kept them close.

Pidich, who entered in the top of the fourth, settled down after allowing Serratorre to score. He retired the next eight batters he faced, sending six of them back to the dugout with strikeouts.

With three innings of near-perfect pitching for Pidich in the books, the righty got into a bit of a jam in the seventh when he issued a one-out walk, then gave up his first hit of the afternoon. Following a sacrifice bunt to put both runners in scoring position, Pidich exited the game and senior Nick Parnell came in to replace him. It looked as if Parnell completed his job, but Leblanc bobbled the ball at short and one run came in to score giving Kansas State a 5-0 advantage.

In the eighth, the Wildcats pushed two more runs for the final score of 7-0. Conlon started the inning by getting plunked and two batters later scored on a ball off the bat of Tyler Moore that went for an error. Moore then also came around the score on a run-scoring single by Tyler Wolfe.

Looking to dig into the lead, Pitt loaded the bases in the bottom half of the inning with just one out. However, back-to-back strikeouts by Brandon Erickson ended the threat and Pitt went down in order in the ninth to finish the game.

Wolfe and Max Brown each led Kansas State with two hits and one run batted in. Wolfe also scored a run. Three Wildcat pitchers combined for the shutout behind Levi MaVorthis, who surrendered five hits and struck out three in 6.0 innings.

Pitt concludes its stay in Port Charlotte on Sunday, Feb. 15 against Ohio State at 11 a.m.