Pitt Falls to Louisville, 8-5, in Finale

Sunday, May 13

Pittsburgh, Pa.

11 AM

Pitt

27-22, 11-16-0

Louisville

37-15, 15-12-0

Louisville

Pittsburgh

Photo by: Jeffrey Gamza/Pitt Athletics

Pitt Falls to Louisville, 8-5, in Finale

5/13/2018 3:33:00 PM | Baseball

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Sabino, Washington Jr. Homer in Panthers’ Defeat

PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team dropped the finale of the weekend series with Louisville Sunday in an 8-5 defeat at the hands of the Cardinals.

"It was a hard fought weekend," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We came up short all three games, but we competed and we had some great at bats. In the long run, we have to embrace where we're at right now, understand what we have to do, make some adjustments and play hard this next series."

Louisville (37-15, 15-12 ACC) went up 3-0 in the first, following a series of hits and a two-run home run. Pitt (27-22, 11-16 ACC) answered with two of its own to cut the deficit to one, after Ron Washington Jr. crushed a home run to center field, driving in Frank Maldonado, who had singled up the middle to begin the inning.

The Cardinals added two more in the second to reestablish their three-run lead over the Panthers, before tallying another in the third to make it 6-2. Louisville would tack one more on in the seventh, making it 7-2.

Pitt began to hack at the deficit in the seventh inning, cutting the Cardinals lead to just two runs. After Connor Perry and David Yanni both singled, Liam Sabino smashed a homer to left field, his team-leading 15th home run of the season, to score three and make it 7-5.

Louisville crossed another in the ninth. The Panthers were able to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but the Cardinals were able to collect the final out to take the game, 8-5.

Starter Blair Calvo (1-5) earned the loss, pitching 1.1 innings while giving up four runs on four hits. Chase Smith saw 1.2 innings of work, allowing two runs off of two hits while striking out a career-high five. Redshirt sophomore Derek West was solid in relief, pitching 3.1 innings, giving up one run off of four hits while walking three and striking out four. TJ Pagan threw two innings in his third appearance this weekend, giving up one run and one hit and striking out two. RJ Freure closed out the game for the Panthers, giving up one hit and adding a strikeout over 0.2 innings.

Offensively, Sabino led the team going 2-4 with a double and a home run, collecting three RBI. Maldonado, Cole MacLaren, and Perry all went 2-4 as well, while Washington Jr. went 1-5 with two RBI.

Pitt closes out the regular season this week, taking on No. 7 Clemson. The series will get underway Thursday at 6 p.m. at Charles L. Cost Field.

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