Saturday, March 31
Pittsburgh, Pa.
3 PM
Pitt
13-10, 3-8-0
7
vs
5
Virginia
15-12, 4-7-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Virginia
1
0
0
0
3
0
1
0
0
5
11
0
Pittsburgh
0
0
0
0
3
0
1
3
X
7
7
1
Maldonado Powers Offense to 7-5 Win over Virginia
3/31/2018 6:57:00 PM | Baseball
Panthers Post Three in the Eighth to Down Cavaliers
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team defeated ACC rival Virginia Saturday afternoon at Charles L. Cost Field to even up the series, downing the Cavaliers 7-5 in a thrilling eighth inning comeback.
"It was fantastic," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We were taking some decent at-bats, Virginia's pitcher was good today. He [Daniel Lynch] was very good and has been good in conference play. We have such a tremendous amount of respect for Virginia. It's one of the premier programs in the country and Coach O'Connor and his entire staff are fantastic and do a great job, so we just had to battle and that was a big hit for us. It was good to see [Caleb] Parry swing the bat a little bit, he's been struggling, and then of course [Frank] Maldonado with a couple of really great hits. It was solid."
Virginia (15-12, 4-7 ACC) tallied the first run of the game in the opening inning, as both Pitt (13-10, 3-8 ACC) and the Cavaliers would go scoreless over the next three innings before the visitors tacked on three more in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead.
Nick Banman would break open the offense for the Panthers, smacking a double in the fifth inning to score Caleb Parry and Frank Maldonado, both of whom had reached after back-to-back walks. Banman was able to cross the plate on a bunt from Nico Popa, having moved to third on a groundout off the bat of Ron Washington Jr., cutting the Cavaliers' lead to one as the inning came to an end.
The two teams would exchange runs in the seventh, each adding one to make it 5-4 in favor of Virginia, as Maldonado tallied his first home run of the season, bouncing the ball over the left field wall.
Pitt would tie it up in the eighth, when Cole MacLaren scored on a groundout from David Yanni after reaching third on a wild pitch, following a single from Alex Amos and a single of his own. The next at bat would see the Panthers take their first lead of the game, as Maldonado continued his tear, singling through the right side in a two-out at bat, scoring Amos and Liam Sabino, giving Pitt a two-run advantage.
"It was a big hit," said Jordano. "I saw he choked up a little bit, kind of rode it out and then snuck it through there. As you know over the last several games, that ball hasn't gotten through for us and it went our way today. I am very proud of the way they battled and am very pleased with their performance."
Reliever Yaya Chentouf shut things down for the Panthers, after entering the game in the eighth with a man on first and no outs. He would retire the Cavaliers in order in the ninth, highlighted by a pair of strikeouts as the Panthers earned the win.
Chentouf (3-1) earned the victory, tossing 2.0 innings of scoreless work, blanking the Cavaliers and striking out three. Redshirt senior Matt Pidich pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 10 hits and striking out five while only walking two.
Offensively, Maldonado was spectacular, going 2-3, with three RBI and two runs, including his first homer of the season. Banman also tallied two RBI, going 1-4 on the day.
The Panthers and Cavaliers return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the rubber match. Starting pitchers for both teams have yet to be announced.
Notes: David Yanni snapped his team-best reached base streak at 32 games, which dated back to the 2016 season.
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram
"It was fantastic," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We were taking some decent at-bats, Virginia's pitcher was good today. He [Daniel Lynch] was very good and has been good in conference play. We have such a tremendous amount of respect for Virginia. It's one of the premier programs in the country and Coach O'Connor and his entire staff are fantastic and do a great job, so we just had to battle and that was a big hit for us. It was good to see [Caleb] Parry swing the bat a little bit, he's been struggling, and then of course [Frank] Maldonado with a couple of really great hits. It was solid."
Virginia (15-12, 4-7 ACC) tallied the first run of the game in the opening inning, as both Pitt (13-10, 3-8 ACC) and the Cavaliers would go scoreless over the next three innings before the visitors tacked on three more in the fifth to take a 4-0 lead.
Nick Banman would break open the offense for the Panthers, smacking a double in the fifth inning to score Caleb Parry and Frank Maldonado, both of whom had reached after back-to-back walks. Banman was able to cross the plate on a bunt from Nico Popa, having moved to third on a groundout off the bat of Ron Washington Jr., cutting the Cavaliers' lead to one as the inning came to an end.
The two teams would exchange runs in the seventh, each adding one to make it 5-4 in favor of Virginia, as Maldonado tallied his first home run of the season, bouncing the ball over the left field wall.
Pitt would tie it up in the eighth, when Cole MacLaren scored on a groundout from David Yanni after reaching third on a wild pitch, following a single from Alex Amos and a single of his own. The next at bat would see the Panthers take their first lead of the game, as Maldonado continued his tear, singling through the right side in a two-out at bat, scoring Amos and Liam Sabino, giving Pitt a two-run advantage.
"It was a big hit," said Jordano. "I saw he choked up a little bit, kind of rode it out and then snuck it through there. As you know over the last several games, that ball hasn't gotten through for us and it went our way today. I am very proud of the way they battled and am very pleased with their performance."
Reliever Yaya Chentouf shut things down for the Panthers, after entering the game in the eighth with a man on first and no outs. He would retire the Cavaliers in order in the ninth, highlighted by a pair of strikeouts as the Panthers earned the win.
Chentouf (3-1) earned the victory, tossing 2.0 innings of scoreless work, blanking the Cavaliers and striking out three. Redshirt senior Matt Pidich pitched 6.2 innings, giving up 10 hits and striking out five while only walking two.
Offensively, Maldonado was spectacular, going 2-3, with three RBI and two runs, including his first homer of the season. Banman also tallied two RBI, going 1-4 on the day.
The Panthers and Cavaliers return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for the rubber match. Starting pitchers for both teams have yet to be announced.
Notes: David Yanni snapped his team-best reached base streak at 32 games, which dated back to the 2016 season.
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Chentouf, Yaya (3-1)
L: Andrew Abbott (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Andy Weber 1 ; Charlie Cody 2
3B: Andy Weber 1
RBI: Andy Weber 3 ; Nate Eikhoff 2
SH: Tanner Morris 1 ; Cayman Richardson 1 ; Nate Eikhoff 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tanner Morris 1 ; Cayman Richardson 2 ; Andy Weber 1 ; Justin Novak 1
SB: Cayman Richardson 1
CS: Nate Eikhoff 1
HBP: Charlie Cody 1
Batting:
2B: Banman, Nick 1
HR: Maldonado, Frank 1
RBI: Yanni, David 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 3 ; Banman, Nick 2 ; Popa, Nico 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Amos, Alex 1 ; Sabino, Liam 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 2 ; Parry, Caleb 1 ; Banman, Nick 1 ; MacLaren, Cole 1
CS: Popa, Nico 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
RHP/OF
/ Baseball
C
/ BaseballOF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF
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