Offensive Outburst Propels Panthers over Virginia Tech, 9-5

Friday, March 24

Pittsburgh, Pa.

3:00 PM

Pitt

9-10, 2-5-0

Virginia Tech

14-10, 3-4-0

Virginia Tech

Pittsburgh

Offensive Outburst Propels Panthers over Virginia Tech, 9-5

3/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh baseball team topped Virginia Tech in the weekend series opener, 9-5 on Friday afternoon.

"We knew that coming into this weekend that it was going to be a challenge, as it is every weekend in the ACC," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We had some specific goals that we worked on this week. We saw those come to fruition today against a good arm. Naughton has a lightening arm. He has struggled a little bit this year but we knew it was going to be a challenge. A lot of the things we have talked about this week factored into the win today. I find that more satisfying than anything because I believe we got better as a team."

Josh Mitchell had a solid outing, as the redshirt junior stymied the Hokies bats to pick up his first collegiate victory. The southpaw tied a career-high going seven innings, surrendering just one run on three hits. Mitchell allowed one walk and generated a career-high nine strikeouts.

"Josh [Mitchell] was outstanding," added Jordano. "We saw innings of it over the first four or five starts and he just didn't have a complete performance. Today was really special. Even when he got into a little bit of trouble he kept pitching. He executed some really good pitches in hitters' counts that put him in better situations that helped him get out of some jams. I was very proud of what Josh did. That is what he is capable of every time he is out there. He has stuff that can beat anyone."

Pitt gained the lead in the first inning when Frank Maldonado singled to left field off a full count, scoring redshirt senior Jacob Wright who had reached on a single through the right side to kick off the inning.

The Panthers extended their early lead in the third inning as Nico Popa singled, following by a Yaya Chentouf being hit by pitch. With two on, Caleb Parry singled in Popa for his 11th RBI of the season. Nick Banman followed that with a two-RBI double for his team-leading 12th RBI. Banman then scored off a single from P.J. DeMeo that found a hole in the right side to put Pitt up 5-0 after three.

While the bats cooled for the Panthers middle frames, Virginia Tech was held in check by Mitchell. He retired the 12 of 14 batters faced between the 4th and 7th innings, with a solo home run by Virginia Tech redshirt senior infielder Matt Dauby and a hit batsman being the lone outliers.

Pitt scored their sixth run of the game when Chentouf attempted to steal second, which led to an error on the second baseman trying to catch the throw down. Popa, who was on third, scampered home to replenish the Panthers five-run lead.

"We tweaked some things offensively and we had two really good sessions," the skipper said of his offense." Coach Negrych and Coach Alvino have been doing a great job with our guys. We had a specific plan for the day. I mentioned to our guys post-game that we have to repeat that tomorrow. Our goal is to get better each game and we did that today."

Sam Mersing came into relief in the eighth inning and surrendered a home run to redshirt sophomore Jack Owens to center field. After walking the next batter, Mersing forced a double play followed by a fly out to get out of the inning.

In the eighth inning, back-to-back doubles helped the Panthers add three more runs. Manny Pazos had a one-out RBI double to left field, scoring Banman and DeMeo, followed by Popa doubling to right center to bring in Pazos and give the Panthers a 9-3 lead.

R.J. Freure came into the game to close the ninth. Freure, who has been a quality relief pitcher out of the bullpen for the Panthers this season, allowed a two-out pinch hit home run to sophomore Stevie Mangrum. After surrendering a walk, redshirt senior center fielder Rahiem Cooper also went yard to cut the Panthers lead to 9-5.

With the win, Pitt (9-10, 2-5 ACC) picks up their third straight victory over the Hokies (14-10, 3-4 ACC) dating back to last season. The Panthers nine runs scored and 12 hits are the most against an ACC opponent so far this year. The Panthers have rattled off two consecutive ACC victories at home, including a win in the series finale over Notre Dame last weekend.

The series will come to a close tomorrow as the two Coastal Division rivals face off in a doubleheader at Charles L. Cost Field. Game one is slated for a 1 p.m. start time with the finale scheduled to start 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first.

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