Panthers Battle Back in the Ninth to Even Series

Saturday, March 14

Stanford, CA

5:05 PM ET/2:05 PM PT

Pitt

13-4, 1-1

Stanford

7-11, 1-4

Pitt

Stanford

Panthers Battle Back in the Ninth to Even Series

3/14/2026 9:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

STANFORD, CA – The Pitt Panthers (13-4, 1-1) evened their series at Stanford (7-11, 1-4) in dramatic fashion on Saturday afternoon in a back-and-forth contest that saw four lead changes.

Pitt's relentless offense scored seven runs over the final three innings to even the series and set up a rubber match tomorrow afternoon.

In his first at-bat of the game, Carter Dierdorf delivered for the Panthers in a big spot. Trailing by one run, and down to their final two outs, Dierdorf blasted a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning as he helped the Panthers take Saturday's game against the Cardinal. It's the first this year that Pitt has won after trailing in the ninth inning.

Joey Baran was one of three Panthers with two hits on Saturday. He went 2-4 with two walks, two runs scored and a two-run home run. Sebastian Pisacreta hit his sixth home run of the season in the seventh inning and finished the day 2-4 with two runs scored, one walk and one RBI. Leadoff man AJ Nessler logged another multiple-hit game, going 2-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. Lorenzo Carrier was walked intentionally three times and was held hitless for the first time since February 28th. His seven-game home run streak came to a end on Saturday, two shy of the NCAA record.

Right-hander Andrew Luzcak came out of the bullpen in relief for Pitt and earned his first win of the season.

For the second time this weekend, the Panthers scored first as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. Three-consecutive singles to start the top of the second inning got the Panthers on the board.

Joey Baran led off the inning with a single to right field and moved up to third on Sebastian Pisacreta's single three pitches later. Pisacreta advanced to second on his single following an errant throw from the Stanford left fielder that put two runners in scoring position for Jackson Cooke. Cooke singled to right to drove in both Panthers and would also move up to second base on an errant throw by a Stanford outfielder. With Cooke now in scoring position because of the error, Nessler lined a single up the middle to drive him in and give the Panthers a 3-0 lead in the second.

The first two Cardinal batters in the bottom half of the inning singled but did not advance another base as Vincent Spizzoucco would get out of the jam unscathed.

Trey Fenderson extended the Panther lead to four in the top of the third inning with a solo home run to left.

Stanford got a pair of runs back in the bottom half of the third, cutting Pitt's lead in half. Joey Baran ended the inning by throwing out an attempted base stealer at second base to keep the Panthers up 4-2 after three.

The Cardinal took a lead on back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, they led 5-4 after five innings.

The Panthers responded with back-to-back home runs of their own to regain their lead in the top of the seventh inning. The bats of Joey Baran (two-run) and Sebastian Pisacreta (solo) powered the Panthers to a 7-5 lead through seven innings.

Singles from AJ Nessler and Caden Dulin added an insurance run for the Panthers in the top of the eighth inning. Nessler scored from first on Dulin's infield single as the third baseman's throw to first skipped down the right field line. Pitt led by three in the eighth.

Stanford regained the lead once more, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to take a 9-8 lead heading into the final frame.

Sebastian Pisacreta worked a one-out walk to bring the go-ahead run to the plate in the top of the ninth inning. Down to the final two outs, Carter Dierdorf blasted a two-run shot that put the Panthers in front. Two more singles and an intentional walk to Lorenzo Carrier loaded the bases for Kai Wagner who worked a walk and gave Pitt a much needed insurance run. The Panthers now led 11-9 and needed just three more outs to close it.

Despite the Cardinal getting a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Andrew Luczak was able to induce a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to even the series.

The Panthers look to clinch their first ACC series of the season tomorrow afternoon with RHP Drew Lafferty getting the start on the mound.