Pitt Blanks Virginia Tech for Second Straight Day

Friday, May 15

Pittsburgh, Pa.

6:00 PM

Pitt

20-31, 9-20

Virginia Tech

26-26, 12-16

Virginia Tech

Pitt

Pitt Blanks Virginia Tech for Second Straight Day

5/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 15, 2015

Box Score | Season Stats

PITTSBURGH -- With the same score as the day before, the University of Pittsburgh baseball team (20-31, 9-20 ACC) once again held Virginia Tech (26-26, 12-16 ACC) scoreless. This time it was a dazzling outing from starter T.J. Zeuch that gave the Panthers a 7-0 win at Charles L. Cost Field on Friday night.

"I thought T.J. [Zeuch] pitched as well tonight as he did all year," said head coach Joe Jordano. "For us to shut that team out two days in a row is a testament to the hard work our pitching staff has done and their focus over the last couple weeks of the season."

The last time Pitt recorded back-to-back shutout victories was on April 21, 2011 in a doubleheader vs. Rutgers.

Zeuch (5-6) earned the win on the back of eight innings of dominant pitching, allowing just six hits, two walks, and striking out seven. With his seven K's tonight, Zeuch finishes even with Paul Nardozzi at 90 strikeouts in a single season -- tied for fourth-most in Pitt history.

Ron Sherman's bases-clearing triple in the first marked another Pitt record, as it was the 24th three-bagger the team has tallied this season, eclipsing the previous program high of 23 set in 2013. Charles LeBlanc later tripled in the fourth as the Panthers posted their sixth multi-triple game of the year.

Sherman is now 3-for-3 on the year with the bases loaded -- all extra-base hits -- resulting in eight RBIs.

Leblanc has wreaked havoc in the two-spot of late, as he improved to 6-for-10 in the series (.600 avg) with two runs scored and two driven in so far against VT. He's 10-for-26 (.385) in his last six contests.

Jacob Wright extended his reached-base streak to 38 games with a double in the second. He later walked two more times to push his OBP during the streak to .491 with a .307 batting average. He's scored 31 runs over those games as well.

The Panthers' bats went to work in the bottom of the first, notching four runs on four hits to take the first lead of the game. With bases loaded, Sherman tripled to center and cleared the bases giving Pitt the first lead of the game, 3-0. Frabasilio followed with a single to center to bring home Sherman, taking the Panthers lead to 4-0 after one complete inning.

After recording just one hit in both the first and second innings, the Hokies were retired in order in the third and again in the fourth, fifth, and sixth as Zeuch rolled.

Meanwhile, Pitt added an additional run in the bottom of the third. Schnurbusch worked his way around the bases as he was walked and stole second, then stole third shortly thereafter for his fourteenth of the year. Frabasilio drew a walk and a passed ball brought Schnurbusch home for Pitt's fifth run of the day.

Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Wright was walked for the sixth time in the series and a triple from Leblanc brought him home. Vazquez then chalked up an RBI single to score Leblanc as well, pushing the score to 7-0, Panthers, where it would stay.

Pitt recorded two more hits and left two men on base through the final innings, but couldn't push any more runs across.

Alumni of the 1995 Big East Champion Pitt baseball team were in attendance for the game and recognized in a pregame ceremony.

The series and Pitt's 2015 regular season will conclude tomorrow at 1 p.m. Senior Day ceremonies will take place immediately preceding starting lineup introductions.