Pitt
11-8, 1-6
Duke
19-4, 5-2
Comeback Falls Short as Pitt Drops Opener to No. 19 Duke
3/23/2018 7:08:00 PM | Baseball
Panthers Earn 12-6 Loss to Blue Devils
"Well obviously we can't spot an ACC team seven or eight runs," said head coach Joe Jordano. "It was amazing, in the first two innings they had seven runs with one hit, and that's not going to cut it. We are in a spot right now where we're struggling. We are just not putting enough hits together early in ball games, we are walking too many guys and if you hit a couple of guys against the 19th-ranked team in the country, they are going to take advantage of that, and they did. We just have to continue to work hard and make sure that we stick to our process and this thing will turn around."
Duke (19-4, 5-2 ACC) jumped out to an early 8-1 lead after the first three innings, with the Panthers sole run in the opening frames coming in the when David Yanni knocked in Alex Amos, who had advanced to third on a throwing error after a leadoff walk.
Kevin Henriksen entered the game in relief in the fourth inning, tossing 4.2 frames, striking out four. Henriksen would keep the Blue Devils off the board for four straight frames, but Duke would add three in the eighth and one in the ninth to extend its lead to 11.
Pitt (11-8, 1-6 ACC) would begin to click offensively in the bottom of the ninth, smacking four hits and scoring five, including the first career homer by sophomore Nico Popa, a three-run jack, but it wouldn't be enough to surmount the early deficit.
The Panthers and Blue Devils return to action tomorrow at 3 p.m. Redshirt senior Matt Pidich is set to take the mound for Pitt.
Notes: Pitt is now 7-10-0 all-time against Duke and 6-5-0 against the Blue Devils in ACC play … David Yanni extended his team-best reached base streak to 29 games dating back to the 2016 season … Nico Popa's ninth inning homer was the first of his career.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Laskey, A. (5-1)
L: Hammer, Dan (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Herron, J. 1 ; Proctor, C. 1 ; Kone, Z. 1 ; Conine, G. 1 ; Taylor, K. 1
RBI: Proctor, C. 1 ; Kone, Z. 3 ; Conine, G. 1 ; Taylor, K. 4 ; Loperfido, J 1 ; Miller, M. 1
SH: Loperfido, J 1
SF: Loperfido, J 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Herron, J. 3 ; Mann, S. 1 ; Proctor, C. 1 ; Kone, Z. 3 ; Labosky, J. 2 ; Conine, G. 1 ; Taylor, K. 1
SB: Herron, J. 1 ; Proctor, C. 1 ; Taylor, K. 1
HBP: Labosky, J. 1 ; Conine, G. 1 ; Rothenberg 1
Batting:
2B: Sabino, Liam 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1
HR: Popa, Nico 1
RBI: Yanni, David 1 ; Banman, Nick 1 ; Popa, Nico 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Amos, Alex 1 ; Cappas, Chris 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1 ; Banman, Nick 1 ; Popa, Nico 1 ; Alvarez, Danny 1
HBP: Parry, Caleb 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1
