Pitt Baseball Tops Wake Forest 8-4, Wins Series

Sunday, April 12

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1:00 PM

Pitt

14-20, 6-12

Wake Forest

22-16, 9-9

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

Pitt Baseball Tops Wake Forest 8-4, Wins Series

4/12/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 12, 2015

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Box Score | Season Stats

PITTSBURGH -- A pair of timely hits made the difference on Sunday as Pitt defeated Wake Forest 8-4 on April 12 at Charles L. Cost Field in the rubber match to win the series.

Pitt (14-20, 6-12 ACC) improved to 2-2 all-time against the Demon Deacons (22-16, 9-9 ACC) after taking the first-ever series between the two squads.

The Panthers received two three-run hits during the course of the game, aiding Pitt's efforts. In the first inning redshirt freshman Frank Maldonado came up with a bases-clearing triple to give the home team a 4-0 lead at the time. With Pitt's lead down to 4-3 in the fifth, senior Boo Vazquez launched a three-run homer to give the Panthers some breathing room and a 7-3 advantage.

On the mound, junior Marc Berube (1-4) recorded his first Pitt victory after throwing 6.1 innings and allowing four runs (two earned) on eight hits. He also had three strikeouts and walked four.

Six Panthers had hits during the game, but redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright was the only multi-hit performer. Wright, who extended his reached bases streak and hit streak to 24 games and nine games, respectively, went 2-for-4 in his team-leading 10th multi-hit contest of the season. Wright was also one of three players to score two runs along with Vazquez and junior Alex Kowalczyk.

Pitt attacked Will Craig (1-2), Sunday's starter for Wake Forest and one of the top hitters in the country, right from the get-go, putting up four runs in the first frame.

Wright led off the game with an infield single, giving him the longest reached bases streak by a Pitt player since Vazquez reached in 27 consecutive games spanning the 2013 and 2014 seasons.

After a sacrifice bunt and a walk, Kowalczyk sent a single back up the middle to plate Wright and give the Panthers a 1-0 lead. Craig issued his second walk of the game to load the bases, bringing up Maldonado, who was making his first appearance of the series. Maldonado jumped on an offering from Craig and cleared the bases with a triple to right field and extended Pitt's lead to 4-0. It was Maldonado's fifth triple of the season which likely moves into the top-10 nationally and now ranks tied for sixth on the Pitt single-season list.

Looking to respond to Pitt's strong opening inning, Wake Forest put runners on every base after Berube quickly set down the first two batters of the second. However, Berube got Jonathan Pryor to line out to short to escape the jam.

Berube's luck ran out two innings later in the fourth when the Demon Deacons tagged him for three runs to close the gap to 4-3.

Wake Forest received back-to-back singles from Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets, and a walk that loaded the bases for the visitors for the second time on the day. This time, the Demon Deacons took advantage of the situation when a grounder by Drew Freedman sent home Fairchild. An error on the play kept the bases full. Berube sent the next two batters back to the dugout, but a single up the middle by Nate Mondou allowed two unearned runs to score.

Following Maldoando's triple in the first, Craig retired the last 11 batters he faced before being replaced by Parker Dunshee in the bottom of the fifth. Dunshee retired the first batter he faced giving the Wake Forest pitching staff 12 straight set down before Wright broke up the streak with a double to left center. A walk to freshman Charles LeBlanc brought up Vazquez, who demolished a pitch over the right field wall for his third homer of the week and pushed Pitt's margin to 7-3.

In the top of the seventh, Wake Forest scored one to cut its deficit to 7-4 when Mondou tripled to left field and later scored on a wild pitch by relief pitcher redshirt freshman Josh Mitchell. The run was charged to Berube. Mitchell later walked two batters in the frame, bringing up pinch hitter Kevin Conway as the tying run. But a critical strikeout by Mitchell ended the threat.

Overall, Mitchell pitched effectively in relief, letting only three batters on base -- all walks - in 2.0 innings of work. The lefty also struck out two.

Pitt tacked on one final run in the home half of the eighth on junior Aaron Schnurbusch's sacrifice fly that plated Kowalczyk after he got aboard on a three-base error that scooted by Rodriguez, the center fielder.

Senior Hobie Harris took over for Mitchell following one out in the ninth with one runner on and needed only three pitches to induce a game-ending double play -- a season-high third for the Panthers.

Mondou led Wake Forest at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a triple and two runs batted in and Sheets reached base in all four trips and was 2-for-2 with a double.

For the second time in three games, Pitt pitchers held Craig hitless at the dish as he went 0-for-4 today. Entering the weekend, Craig ranked eighth nationally with a .423 batting average. In the three-game series he was held to a .200 average (2-10). Craig also suffered the loss on Sunday after allowing four runs on three hits in 4.0 innings.

Pitt wraps up a nine-game homestand on Tuesday with Kent State at 3 p.m.