Pitt Falls To No. 16 Miami In Series Finale

Sunday, May 3

Pittsburgh, Pa.

1:00 PM

Pitt

16-29, 6-18

Miami

34-13, 19-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Miami	2	1	0	2	0	1	1	0	2	9	14	1
Pitt	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	3	7	2

Pitt Falls To No. 16 Miami In Series Finale

5/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 3, 2015

Box Score | Season Stats

PITTSBURGH -- Behind two home runs and four runs batted from Zack Collins, nationally-ranked No. 16 Miami (34-13, 19-8 ACC) handed Pitt (16-29, 6-18 ACC) a 9-3 loss to complete a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference sweep of the Panthers on Sunday, May 3 at Charles L. Cost Field.

It was just the fourth time in 25 weekend series since opening Cost Field in 2011 that Pitt suffered a three-game sweep at home. Entering yesterday's game, Pitt owned a 2-1 mark this year against top-25 opponents and was 7-5 against them since moving to the ACC in 2014. Those records now sit at 2-4 and 7-8, respectively.

Redshirt sophomore Jacob Wright and freshman Charles LeBlanc provided a one-two punch at the top of the order. Wright reached base all five times, including a single and a career-high three walks to extend his reached bases streak to 32 games. He also reached on an error. Leblanc pounded out two hits and two RBIs, recording his team-leading 13th multi-hit game, 10th double and 27th RBI.

In just his fourth game back from illness, sophomore Nick Yarnall notched his eighth multi-hit performance of the season with two hard-hit singles back up the middle.

Danny Garcia (6-1) earned the win for the Hurricanes after throwing 1.2 innings of one-hit ball in relief of starter Enrique Sosa, who gave up three runs on three hits in 4.1 innings of work. Pitt starter Marc Berube (1-7) was credited with the loss, surrendering five runs on seven hits in 3.2 innings.

Berube quickly retired the first two batters of the game, including striking out the first batter, but George Iskenderian continued his impressive hitting from yesterday and got a hold of a pitch, sending a 3-2 offering over the scoreboard in left to break open the scoring.

Miami didn't let up after the home run either, scoring its second run on an RBI double to left field by David Thompson on another 3-2 count that drove in Garrett Kennedy from first.

In the bottom half of the inning, Wright, who returned to the lineup following a three-game absence, extended his reached bases streak to 32 games with a single up the middle and stole second to get into scoring position, but couldn't be brought home.

The Hurricanes pushed another run across in the second to increase their lead to 3-0 when Brandon Lopez led off the frame with a double to right and scored two batters later on Ricky Eusebio's RBI single to left.

Senior Boo Vazquez put the Panthers on the scoreboard in the third with a two-out double down the right field line that plated Wright all the way from first. Looking to dig into the lead more, Vazquez moved up to third on a passed ball with junior Aaron Schnurbusch at the plate. Schnurbusch was able to put a ball in play that would have scored Vazquez, but Iskenderian robbed him of a hit and Pitt of a run as the Panthers settled for just the one run.

Miami retained its three-run margin in a matter of minutes when Collins led off the top of the fourth with a no-doubter home run to right center, giving the visitors a 4-1 lead. The Hurricanes added another run later in the inning with two outs on Christopher Barr's triple to the right center gap. Lopez, who walked immediately following Collins' home run, scored the run.

Pitt cut the lead to 5-3 in the third inning on Leblanc's two-run double. The Panthers put a pair of runners on in the fifth without recording a hit as senior Eric Hess was hit by a pitch and Wright walked for the second time. Down to his last strike, Leblanc clubbed a two-run double to the left center gap to pull the Panthers within two.

That brought up Vazquez with only one out, representing the tying run. A wild pitch advanced Leblanc to third and another prompted him to take home, but Kennedy, the Miami catcher, was able to recover and the relief pitcher Garcia applied the tag for the out. Vazquez eventually walked bringing the tying run up again in the form of pinch hitter Frank Maldonado, but a groundout ended the inning.

The Hurricanes responded in the top half of the sixth with one unearned run and added another in the seventh off relief pitcher redshirt freshman Josh Mitchell.

Carl Chester beat out an infield single, and with two outs in sixth, motored around the bases to score following a bunt by Eusebio and an errant throw by junior Alex Kowalczyk that bounced off Eusebio's helmet and continued into right field. Mitchell ran into trouble in the seventh, letting up Miami's seventh run of the game on an RBI groundout by Collins. A pair of singles, the second by Willie Abreu placed runners on the corners and Collins drove a pitch to first, where Hess came up with the diving save and had to settle for the force out as Thompson crossed the plate.

Overall, Mitchell pitched well in his 3.0 innings out of the bullpen. He gave up just one earned run in the second-longest outing of his career.

The Panthers bats woke back up in the eighth inning with back-to-back one-out singles by Kowalczyk and Yarnall. The two runners moved up on a wild pitch, but were ultimately stranded in scoring position.

In the ninth, Collins added his second home run of the game and third of the weekend with a two-run blast for the final score of 9-3.

All 10 Miami players who had an at bat recorded a base hit, including all of the starting nine. In addition to Collins' two hits, Eusebio and Abreu also had a pair of base knocks.

Pitt returns to the diamond next weekend with a three-game series at Georgia Tech beginning Friday, May 8.