Baseball Tops Niagara, 6-4, For Series Sweep

Wednesday, March 11

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1:00 PM

Pitt

6-8

Niagara

0-9

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

Baseball Tops Niagara, 6-4, For Series Sweep

3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 11, 2015

Box Score

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PITTSBURGH - Making his first appearance of the season and second career start, sophomore Sam Mersing took a perfect game into the fifth inning and Pitt (6-8) held on for a 6-4 victory to complete the two-game sweep against Niagara (0-9) on Wednesday, March 11 at Charles L. Cost Field.

Mersing retired the first 14 batters he faced before allowing a single with two outs in the fifth inning. He finished the game with a career-long 5.1 innings pitched and struck out six batters - one shy of his career high - while allowing two runs on two hits.

For the second straight game the fourth through seventh batters in the lineup provided the bulk of the offense, recording all four hits and five of the team's six runs batted in. Three of Pitt's hits went for doubles.

Junior Aaron Schnurbusch and senior Jordan Frabasilio each finished with a two-bagger and two runs batted in while junior Alex Kowalczyk was 1-for-2 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI. Redshirt freshman Frank Maldonadohad the other hit and junior Ron Sherman had the remaining RBI.

In addition to Mersing's (1-0) strong outing, Niagara starter Ben Zaccagnino (0-1) also kept the Pitt hitters at bay early on despite battling some control issues. Both pitchers took no-hitters into the fourth inning, however four walks and three hit by pitches gave the Panthers a number of opportunities in the early stages of the game.

Even though they didn't record a hit in the third, the Panthers loaded the bases when redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright was walked and stole second, freshman Charles LeBlanc drew a walk and sophomore Nick Yarnall was hit by a pitch - all with one out. Kowalczyk then sent a drive to left field that was deep enough to bring Wright home from third for the game's first run.

Meanwhile, Mersing was rolling past the Niagara batters retiring the first 14 batters he faced and striking out five of them. After a single and a walk, Mersing fanned his sixth batter of the day to escape the fifth inning.

The Panthers gave Mersing some breathing room in the bottom half of the stanza, scoring four runs on just one hit to make it 5-0. Two walks and a hit by pitch put runners on every base with no outs for Schnurbusch, who roped a two-run double to center field. Frabasilio then hit a deep fly to right to plate Kowalczyk from third and Sherman did the same thing two batters later with his sacrifice fly to left.

Niagara finally figured out Mersing in the sixth, walking twice before a single by Thomas Rodrigues scored the Purple Eagles' first run of the game and put runners on the corners. A sacrifice fly by Michael Fuhrman pulled Niagara within 5-2 and after another walk, Mersing's day was done.

The Panthers turned to freshman Isaac Mattson, who struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam. He came back out for the seventh and retired all three batters, including two strikeouts to bring his total on the day to four.

Pitt added an insurance run in the seventh to extend its lead to 6-2 after Kowalczyk led off the inning with a bloop double that dropped in near the right field line, and scored two batters later on Frabasilio's bloop double as well.

Niagara began chipping away at Pitt's lead with two runs in the eighth off RBI singles from Dale Miller and Nick Bernick and even had the go ahead run on first with two outs. But redshirt freshman Josh Mitchell got the next batter to fly out to right and end the inning.

Ultimately, it was too little, too late for the Purple Eagles as junior Garrett Wrambel retired the side in order in the ninth for his first save as the Panthers hung on for the 6-4 victory.

Pitt returns to action this weekend with a three-game series against nationally-ranked No. 16 North Carolina beginning on Friday, March 13.