Pitt
1-0
Niagara
0-1
Offense Explodes in 19-10 Opening Day Win over Niagara
2/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
VERO BEACH, FL. - The Pitt baseball team opened the 2016 season on Friday afternoon, claiming a 19-10 win over Niagara in game one of the Historic Dodgertown Classic in Vero Beach, Fla.
"We got off to a very fast start and our bats were certainly alive today," said head coach Joe Jordano. "I was pleased for the most part with our offensive performance, but of course we have more work to do. A couple of bumps gave Niagara additional opportunities, which we certainly cannot do.
"I was impressed with the way Niagara swung bats. Coach McCoy does a very nice job with his ball club. We will see them again on Sunday."
The scoring started early on for both teams as Niagara took the early 1-0 lead in the first.
The Panthers responded in the bottom of the inning, putting the early pressure on pitcher James Walker. Leadoff hitter Jacob Wright took a walk to reach base as the first Pitt batter of the 2016 season. Charles Leblanc was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second and David Yanni singled through the right side to score Wright and tie the contest.
Alex Kowalczyk cleared the bases in the Panthers' next at bat as he posted a three-run bomb to give Pitt the 4-1 lead through one inning.
Niagara stuck with the Panthers in the second inning, tallying three runs off of a pair of homeruns to knot things up at 4-4. That would be the last swing of momentum for the Purple Eagles, as Pitt pulled away with an eight-run second inning.
With the bases loaded, Kowalczyk earned his fourth RBI of the night, walking in Wright. Aaron Schnurbush brought around Leblanc with a single and Ron Sherman cleared the bases with a three-run homer to center field. The Panthers earned three more runs off of a single from Caleb Parry and a double to center from LeBlanc to close out the second inning with a 12-4 advantage.
Liberatore held the Purple Eagles off the scoresheet in the third inning, retiring three of the four batters he faced. Pitt recorded another run in the bottom of the inning as Nick Yarnall singled to left field to bring around Schnurbusch.
Keeping the heat on, Collin Liberatore struck out the side in the top of the fourth as the Panthers posted three more runs in the bottom of the inning to go up 16-4. Liberatore retired his fourth consecutive batter via strikeout to open the fifth, and held the Purple Eagles off the board again to keep the Panthers rolling.
Pitt kept its hot bats alive in the sixth, recording three runs off of a pair of RBIs from P.J. DeMeo and a wild pitch. Niagara would answer with three runs in both the seventh and ninth innings, but Pitt was able to hold on for the 19-10 victory.
On the afternoon, Liberatore threw a solid outing in his collegiate debut, going 5.0 innings, allowing just four runs off of eight hits and fanning eight batters. Transfer Jextin Pugh saw action in relief, going 1.0 innings without giving up a hit, surrendering just one walk and striking out one. Clayton Morrell also tossed 1.0 innings, allowing three runs off of three hits, walking two and striking out one. Blair Lewis tossed the final 2.0 innings of the contest, surrendering three runs off of three hits and striking out two batters.
"On the mound for us today, we used three freshmen out of four pitchers that we threw," added Jordano. "Collin Liberatore started for us today and struggled a little with command and did not have a great feel for his secondary pitches, but he battled and made some big pitches when he needed to. Same with Clayton Morrell and Blair Lewis. We were up in the zone too often today and Niagara took advantage of it."
Ten Panthers collected at least one hit in the contest, as eight different batters registered at least one RBI. Leblanc led the offensive charge, going 2-of-3 with two runs batted in, four runs and two walks. Both Yanni and Kowalczyk registered four runs batted in, as Yanni was 2-of-3 in the contest with three runs and a walk. Kowalczyk went 1-of-4 with one run scored and one walk. Three Panthers went yard in the game, with Kowalczck, Sherman and Yanni rounding the bases.
"As I said to our club after the game, as coaches we cannot teach experience, you have to live it," Jordano said. "We had four freshmen and two sophomores contribute quite a bit today and we are going to have to learn and live through some of these growing pains. I am looking forward to it."
With the win, the Panthers open the season at 1-0-0 and join Ohio State as the two teams unblemished through opening day of the Dodgertown Classic. Pitt will play two contests on Saturday, meeting with Toledo at 11 a.m. before the marquee matchup with Ohio State at 6 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Liberatore, Collin (1-0)
L: Walker, James (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Fuhrman, Michael 1
HR: Brophy, Joel 2 ; Gallup, Julian 1
RBI: Meisner, Mark 1 ; Rodgers, Greg 1 ; Hackett, Taylor 2 ; Brophy, Joel 4 ; Gallup, Julian 2
SF: Rodgers, Greg 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kirwer, Tanner 1 ; Cullen, Greg 1 ; Fuhrman, Michael 1 ; Hackett, Taylor 1 ; Brophy, Joel 2 ; Bernick, Nick 1 ; Dziados, Owen 1 ; Gallup, Julian 1 ; Blanks, Darian 1
CS: Kirwer, Tanner 1 ; Rodgers, Greg 1 ; Hackett, Taylor 1
HBP: Rodgers, Greg 1
Batting:
2B: Leblanc, Charles 1 ; Yarnall, Nick 1
HR: Yanni, David 1 ; Kowalczyk, Alex 1 ; Sherman, Ronnie 1
RBI: Leblanc, Charles 2 ; Yanni, David 4 ; Kowalczyk, Alex 4 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 1 ; Sherman, Ronnie 3 ; DeMeo, P.J. 2 ; Yarnall, Nick 1 ; Parry, Caleb 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wright, Jacob 3 ; Leblanc, Charles 4 ; Yanni, David 3 ; Johnson, Matt 1 ; Kowalczyk, Alex 1 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 3 ; Sherman, Ronnie 1 ; Yarnall, Nick 1 ; Parry, Caleb 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1
CS: Sherman, Ronnie 1
HBP: Leblanc, Charles 1 ; Schnurbusch, Aaron 1 ; Maldonado, Frank 1
