Baseball Drops Rubber Match With Georgia Tech, 10-3

Sunday, May 10

Atlanta, Ga.

1:00 PM

Pitt

17-31, 7-20

Georgia Tech

32-18, 13-14

Pitt

Georgia Tech

Baseball Drops Rubber Match With Georgia Tech, 10-3

5/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 10, 2015

Box Score| Season Stats

ATLANTA -- The University of Pittsburgh baseball team (17-31, 7-20 ACC) was unable to stymie Georgia Tech's (32-18, 13-14 ACC) persistent offensive production as it fell, 10-3, in the decisive game of the series at Russ Chandler Stadium on Sunday as Boo Vazquez made history.

"We got behind early. [Aaron Sandefur] couldn't go today, so we had to bump up our midweek guy to the weekend, which is a completely different scenario," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We kept coming back. We didn't give up. We were working hard. It just came up short."

Senior Boo Vazquez delivered an RBI single to center field in the eighth inning to post the 200th hit of his career. He is now the 13th player in Pitt history to tally 200 career hits and 100 RBIs -- a testament to his productivity and durability since playing his first season in 2012. The last Panther to reach this mark was Casey Roche in 2014.

"It's special to me. It's something that when I'm older, I'll look back on as a good accomplishment," said Vazquez. "It's an honor and I think my family is proud of me."

On Vazquez, Jordano said, "Boo is an outstanding player and he deserves all of the accolades that come his way. He's a dominant force in the middle of that lineup, a great kid, a great student, and a great teammate. I'm very happy that he's had a successful career."

Redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright extended his reached-base streak to a team-best 35 games when he was hit by his tenth pitch of the year in the first inning. He's now compiled a .511 OBP over his last 10 games -- all coming in the leadoff spot. He's scored eight runs over those 10 games.

Sophomore Sam Mersing (3-3) made the start on the mound for Pitt -- his first against an ACC opponent since April 11, 2014, at Miami (FL). He took the loss after he surrendered six runs, five earned, over 4.0 innings while walking two and striking out three.

The Yellow Jackets' Brandon Gold (7-2) started across from Mersing and received the win for allowing five hits in six innings while giving up two runs and none earned. He walked one and struck out three.

Georgia Tech took the lead, 2-0, in the home half of the first. Junior Ron Sherman was tested twice in a row at third, once on a do-or-die soft chopper that resulted in an infield single, and once on a tough hot shot which caused him to rush the throw for an error.

The Yellow Jackets' A.J. Murray extended the lead with his second two-run home run of the series in the third. Mersing walked Matt Gonzalez ahead of him, who was also the runner aboard when Murray connected on Friday night.

Mersing ran into more trouble in the fourth, as GT hung yet another pair of runs to make it 6-0. The Jackets got two on via a hit and a hit batter before Keenan Innis doubled in one and Wade Bailey provided the second on a sac fly to center.

Sherman singled to begin the fifth, but a liner from Hess was snagged by the second baseman to double them off and end any hopes of a rally.

Freshman Isaac Mattson replaced Mersing to begin the bottom of the fifth. The ensuing inning was a rocky one, as Mattson hit two batters, walked one, and was charged with four runs on three hits that seemed to find all the right places to drop. The Yellow Jackets expanded their lead to 10-0 by its conclusion.

Pitt cracked into the scoring column in the sixth inning, kicked off by a pair of errors from Georgia Tech's middle infielders. Sophomore Nick Yarnall then recorded his second single of the game to load the bases before junior Aaron Schnurbusch delivered a two-run knock through the left side. Yarnall would finish 3-for-4 on the day.

Josh Mitchell came on and threw a scoreless sixth and seventh to make it 4.2 innings he worked in the series without giving up a run.

Rich Condeelis was the final man to appear out of the `pen for Pitt, throwing a scoreless eighth to make it multiple scoreless appearances for him as well on the weekend.

Vazquez tallied his historic hit on an RBI single in the eighth to bring the score to its final tally, 10-3.

The Panthers return to action this Tuesday, May 12, when they conclude a home-and-home season series at West Virginia.