Panthers Play Small Ball and Even Series

Saturday, April 27

Pittsburgh, PA

3 PM

Pitt

17-22

Bryant

27-13

Bryant

Pittsburgh

Panthers Play Small Ball and Even Series

4/27/2024 7:46:00 PM | Baseball

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PITTSBURGH – The Panthers evened up their series with Bryant on Saturday afternoon with a 5-2 victory. Pitt played small ball today as they laid down a season-high four bunts.

Luke Cantwell led all Panthers with two hits this afternoon, going 2-3 with 2 walks. C.J. Funk was 1-2 with an RBI single, a walk and a hit by pitch. Funk is one walk away from being fourth all-time in walks Pitt baseball history with 116 career walks. Tyler Bischke kicked off all scoring today with an RBI double down the left field line, he leads all Panthers with 12 doubles this season. Jake Kendro was 1-3 with a double and an RBI squeeze bunt that scored C.J. Funk from third in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Jack Sokol was dominant on the mound once again as he earned his fifth win of the year, striking out seven batters and allowing just two runs over his six innings. Sokol did not allow more than two runs for the fourth-consecutive start, he has given up just five earned runs over that span (24.1 innings). The senior right-handed pitcher kept Bryant scoreless through his first five innings.

Ethan Firoved relieved Sokol in the top of the seventh inning, throwing two scoreless frames while striking out five of the nine batters he faced. Pitt's closer, Phil Fox, entered in the top of the ninth and shut the door on the Bulldogs to earn his fourth save of the season.

The game was scoreless through the first three-and-a-half frames until Tyler Bischke got the Panthers' offense rolling in the bottom of the fourth as Pitt would score in four out of the last five innings.

Following Jayden Melendez lead off hit by pitch, he was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Justin Fogel in Pitt's first instance of small ball today. Josh Spiegel walked to put runners at fist and second with one out and Bischke ripped a double down the left field line the give Pitt their first lead of the game.

Jake Kendro led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a ground-rule double that skipped over the right field wall. After Pitt's walks leader, Luke Cantwell worked a free pass, the Panther's had runners on first and second for the second-consecutive inning. Pitt continued to play small ball as Jayden Melendez, Pitt's home runs leader, laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position. Justin Fogel drove in Kendro from third on an RBI ground out to short and the Panthers led 2-0 after five.

Bryant would hit two solo home runs in the top of the sixth inning and knot Saturday's contest at two runs each.

C.J. Funk was drilled with a 1-0 heater to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning and advanced all the way to third after back-to-back wild pitches. Following a Zuckerman walk that put runners at the corners with nobody out, the Panther continued to utilize the bunt. Jake Kendro laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Funk who dashed home from third and slid in safely to regain the Panther lead. Pitt led again, 3-2 through six innings.

The Panthers added insurance in the bottom of the seventh inning, scoring two runs on two hits to extend their lead to three. Pitt got another lead off runner on as Justin Fogel worked a walk. The speedy freshman, Austyn Winkleblech, pinch-ran for Fogel at first and raced all the way to third on Josh Spiegel's single to left in the next at-bat. Winkleblech would score as Tyler Bischke grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Dom Popa drew a four-pitch walk and stole second to put himself in scoring position with two outs for C.J. Funk who would line a single down the third base line and drive in Popa.

Now leading 5-2, Phil Fox came out of the bullpen and locked down his fourth save of the season as the Panthers evened the series on Saturday afternoon.