Pitt
10-6, 1-4
Boston College
10-7, 1-4
Panthers Blast Four Home Runs in Loss to Eagles During High-Scoring Affair
3/16/2024 8:27:00 PM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH - Pitt fell to Boston College 16-10 in Saturday's contest at Charles L. Cost Field this afternoon. Tyler Bischke recorded the fourth four-hit game of his career while Justin Fogel had three hits for the second consecutive game.
The Panthers scored in double digits for the third time in four games and blasted their second-most home runs in a game this season. They were however unable to eliminate the large deficit they found themselves in during the early innings.
Justin Fogel (solo home run), Jayden Melendez (two-run home run), C.J. Funk (two-run home run) and Tyler Bischke (three-run home run) all went deep today as Pitt was a grand slam shy of the home run cycle.
Tyler Bischke went 4-5 with a three-run home run and a double today, collecting his most hits in a single game as a Panther as well as his first home run as a Panther. Justin Fogel got the start in left field and went 3-5 with a solo shot to right-center. Fogel has combined for nine hits over the Panthers four games this week. Freshman Ryan Zuckerman drove in two runs on two singles this afternoon, he went 2-3 with a walk. Dom Popa went 1-4 with a single and extended his now 15-game hitting streak.
Pitt saw three pitchers make their season debuts this afternoon as Richie Dell, Matt Porter and Kayden Faulcon all made appearances for the first time in 2024. They combined for three innings pitched and only three runs allowed. For Faulcon, it was his collegiate debut. He allowed just one unearned run and struck out two batters.
The Eagles jumped all over the Panthers in the early frames of game two. They scored 12 runs over the first four innings including an eight-run top of the fourth.
After allowing two runs in the top half of the first, the Panthers came right back and tied it up on a Jayden Melendez two-run shot to left. For Melendez, it was his second home run on the weekend and second consecutive at-bat with a long ball.
Boston College got one in the second and one in the third and led 4-2 after three. The Eagles offense then exploded for eight runs on nine hits in the top of the fourth inning, stringing together seven straight hits at one point. They hit two home runs, two triples and five singles in the fourth.
Ryan Zuckerman legged out an RBI infield single to short that scored Tyler Bischke from third and Pitt trailed 12-3 after four.
The team traded two-spots in the fifth and sixth innings. Justin Fogel led off the bottom of the sixth with a solo shot to right-center and Ryan Zuckerman had another run-scoring single as Pitt still trailed by nine, 14-5.
Boston College scored again in the top of the seventh to lead by 10 and have a change to end the game in just seven innings. Pitt had other plans.
After a Luke Cantwell walk and a Justin Fogel single, Tyler Bischke launched his first home run of the year, fourth hit of the ballgame, 415 feet to dead center. Pitt extended the game and trailed 15-8 after seven.
In the bottom of the eighth, Dom Popa was hit by a pitch on a 2-0 heater. With Popa on first, C.J. Funk crushed a two-run homer well over the left field that brought Pitt to within five. It was Funk's first home run since opening day against Maine.
Boston College got one more run in the top of the ninth and won Saturday's contest 16-10.
The rubber match is slated for tomorrow afternoon at 1 PM. The Panthers are throwing left-hander Ryan Reed who will be making his fourth start of the year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: A.J. Colarusso (2-1)
L: Sokol, Jack (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Patrick Roche 1 ; Nick Wang 1 ; Adam Magpoc 1
3B: Patrick Roche 1 ; Sam McNulty 1
HR: Nick Wang 1 ; Vince Cimini 1 ; Adam Magpoc 1
RBI: Patrick Roche 2 ; Nick Wang 3 ; Vince Cimini 4 ; Adam Magpoc 3 ; Cam Caraher 1
SH: Adam Magpoc 1
SF: Cameron Leary 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Patrick Roche 3 ; Nick Wang 1 ; Cameron Leary 1 ; Kyle Wolff 3 ; Vince Cimini 4 ; Adam Magpoc 1 ; Chris Markovich 1 ; Beck Milner 1 ; Sam McNulty 1
SB: Cam Caraher 1
CS: Cam Caraher 1
HBP: Cameron Leary 1 ; Kyle Wolff 1
Batting:
2B: Cantwell, Luke 1 ; Bischke, Tyler 1
HR: Funk, C.J. 1 ; Melendez, Jayden 1 ; Fogel, Justin 1 ; Bischke, Tyler 1
RBI: Funk, C.J. 2 ; Melendez, Jayden 2 ; Fogel, Justin 1 ; Bischke, Tyler 3 ; Zuckerman, Ryan 2
SF: Spiegel, Josh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Popa, Dom 1 ; Funk, C.J. 1 ; Cantwell, Luke 2 ; Melendez, Jayden 1 ; Fogel, Justin 2 ; Bischke, Tyler 3
HBP: Popa, Dom 1
