Notebook: Panthers Near Final Stretch of Fall
10/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH – The University of Pittsburgh baseball team is nearing the final stretch of the fall season, completing the fourth week of scrimmages this past weekend.
The blue team walked away with a pair of wins on Saturday and Sunday, earning a 4-1 decision on Saturday and a 7-3 victory on Sunday.
“I thought our pitchers threw fairly well,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “I am looking at it from a team perspective, so in terms of specifics, there is much room for improvements, but on basic principles, I thought they did a solid job. There is no question that we have things that we need to work on in the off-season on both sides of the baseball, but we are certainly making progress.”
The highlight of the weekend came off the bat of freshman Zach Zientarski as the Jupiter, Fla., native smashed a grand slam in Saturday’s outing. His homer would account for all four of the runs on the blue squad.
“Zach has been swinging well,” added Jordnao. “He is a threat every time he steps to the plate. As a freshman, he still needs to understand strike zone awareness and being a bit more selective. On the grand slam at bat, he recovered from two previous at bats that were not very productive. That showed some maturity to come back and give us a quality at bat despite his two previous attempts.”
A majority of the pitching staff saw some quality time on the mound over the weekend, as Danny Hammer, Peyton Reesman, Zientarski, Yaya Chentouf, Josh Falk, Tyler Garbee, Thomas Pagan, Richard Freure, Dan Furman, Sam Mersing, Kevin Henriksen, Collin Liberatore and Christopher Gomez took a turn.
Falk continued to show signs of success, tossing 4.0 innings, allowing two earned runs off of five hits, with no walks and a pair of strikeouts. A solid force in relief, Chentouf went 2.0 innings, surrendering one earned run off of three hits without allowing a walk.
Freure upped his strikeout total in his three innings, allowing just two hits, while striking out four. Mersing, who held down the mid-week role last season, went 4.0 innings, surrendering one earned run off of four hits and a pair of walks, fanning three batters.
Zientarski’s grand slam set the pace for the blue squad’s offense on the weekend, as Jacob Wright also added a 4-9 performance. Frank Maldonado put together a 3-9 weekend, as Nicholas Banman went 3-7 on the weekend.
For the gold squad, catcher Manny Pazos churned out three doubles, hitting a 4-10 weekend, while Chentouf and Nico Popa each recorded four hits.
“As I mentioned a few times before, this fall and team are a work in progress,” Jordano said. “There are many moving parts that need to be addressed heading into the offseason. We need to get stronger and develop better routines on a daily basis. I really like our effort to this point and I fell we have made significant progress. There is no question that we have identified specific things with each player and pitcher to work on in the offseason. We have some time but the plan is very clear. I am feeling good about where we are at as of this week, but again, still a lot of work in front of us. I know we are all looking to finish the fall on a high note and we are embracing the next step to his process over the next several weeks.”
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