Pitt Takes Series Behind Zeuch's 5-2 Win

Sunday, April 26

Pittsburgh, Pa.

12:00 PM

Pitt

16-25

Fairfield

10-27

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

Pitt Takes Series Behind Zeuch's 5-2 Win

4/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 26, 2015

Box Score | Season Stats

PITTSBURGH -- Sophomore T.J. Zeuch fanned seven batters and pitched 8.0 solid innings to lead Pitt (16-25) to a series win against Fairfield (10-27) with a 5-2 victory in the finale on Sunday, April 26 at Charles L. Cost Field.

Zeuch (4-6) struck out at least seven batters in a game for the ninth time in 11 starts this season, including the third straight. Entering the weekend, Zeuch ranked 34th nationally and third in the Atlantic Coast Conference in strikeouts. The one run and four hits surrendered by Zeuch were both the lowest by an opponent since his eight-inning victory over top-ranked Virginia on March 7.

Senior Jordan Frabasilio was the only repeat-hitter for the Panthers, going 2-for-4 with a double and a run batted in. Frabasilio has now reached base in 22 straight games.

Redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright extended his reached bases streak to 31 with a hit by pitch in the first inning and later hit his first career triple. He also scored two of Pitt's four runs. Despite failing to record a hit, freshman Charles LeBlanc upped his team-leading RBI total to 25 with a pair of sacrifice flies.

Three of Pitt's five base hits went for extra bases. In addition to Wright and Frabasilio, junior Ron Sherman also doubled and scored a run.

Zeuch needed just seven pitches in the first inning, getting some help from a double play that erased a leadoff infield single.

In the bottom of the first, Pitt's offense came to Zeuch's aid by putting the game's first run on the scoreboard. Wright was hit by a pitch to begin the game and went around to third following a ground out and fly out. That brought up junior Aaron Schnurbusch who hit an infield single up the middle to plate Wright for the 1-0 lead.

Fairfield evened the score in the third on a suicide squeeze by Mac Crispano that scored Dean Sadik, who walked to begin the inning, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and wound up on third after a wild pitch. With runners on the corners, Crispano pushed a bunt down the third base line and sophomore P.J. DeMeo attempted to make the play at home, but the bid was unsuccessful.

It didn't take long for the Panthers to go back in front, as Wright led off the bottom half of the inning with a triple to right field and came home on LeBlanc's sacrifice fly. It was Pitt's fourth triple of the weekend.

On two instances, in the fourth and in the sixth, the Stags had the tying run on second after doubles by Dan Hopkins and Sebastian Salvo, respectively. But both times, Zeuch retired the remaining batters to get out of the jam.

Pitt wasn't getting much going against Stags starter Kyle Dube (3-3) during the same stretch either, as the Panthers were retired in order from the fourth through sixth innings. Dube had retired 11 straight batters entering the seventh inning, when Pitt added two insurance runs to extend its advantage to 4-1 and knock him out of the game.

Dube issued a leadoff walk to senior Eric Hess and back-to-back doubles by Sherman and Frabasilio drove Hess in. After recording the first out, Dube intentionally walked Wright to load the bases before the Stags turned to Anthony DiMauro. The first batter DiMauro faced was Leblanc, who recorded another sacrifice fly and his second RBI of the game.

Pitt pushed across one final run in the eighth on a passed ball after loading the bases on two hit by pitches and an intentional walk.

Senior Hobie Harris pitched the final inning for the second time this weekend, allowing one run on three hits for the final 5-2 margin. After a two-out single that ricocheted off Harris' shin, Kevin Radziewicz represented the tying run at the plate. However, Harris got the next batter to groundout and end the game.

On Wednesday, April 29, the Panthers will complete their season series with a road game at Penn State, then return home for a conference series with No. 13 Miami (Fla.).