Panthers Drop Extra-Inning Shootout with Ohio State

Saturday, February 20

Vero Beach, Fla.

6:00 PM

Pitt

2-1

Ohio State

3-0

Ohio State

Pitt

Panthers Drop Extra-Inning Shootout with Ohio State

2/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

VERO BEACH, FL. – Taking to Historic Dodgertown for the second of two games in Vero Beach, the Pitt baseball team dropped an 11-8 decision to Ohio State in a 13 inning contest.

"That was a tough loss," said head coach Joe Jordano. "We certainly had our opportunities to win the ballgame a few times, but could not get the timely hit. We left 16 runners on base. We did swing the bat well and ended the game with 16 hits.

Aaron Sandefur earned the start and helped the Pitt defense to a hot start early on. The righty faced 12 batters before giving up a hit, walking just one and recording three strikeouts in the first three innings. His pitch count remained low early on, tossing just 12, 11 and 13 balls in the first three innings.

Sandefur's command on the mound allowed the Pitt offense to get on the board first as leadoff hitter Jacob Wright set the early pace with a triple to right center in his first at bat. Charles Leblanc grounded out to the shortstop on the next play, bring Wright around and giving the Panthers the 1-0 advantage.

Pitt remained ahead 1-0 through the third inning before the Buckeyes were able to knot things up at 1-1 in the fourth. Jacob Bosiokovic walked and advanced to second when Ronnie Dawson reached on an error by Matt Johnson. A double from cleanup hitter Nick Sergakis brought Bosiokovic around.

The Panthers would respond, however as a single from Johnson would allow Alex Kowalczyk to score after the designated hitter reached on a single that bounced off the pitcher. Caleb Parry's single through the left side and a fielder's choice from Aaron Schnurbusch set up Kowalczyk's score.

A scoreless fifth inning paved the way for an explosive sixth frame as both teams posted multiple runs. Ohio State set the tone with a trio of scores to go up 4-2, but the Panthers would respond in the bottom half of the inning.

Sherman singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch before Johnson would single and advance to second on an error by third baseman Sergakis, bringing Sherman around the plate. Manny Pazos reached by the way of a walk, chasing the starting pitcher.

Wright sent a single through the right side to bring home Johnson and advance Pazos to third. The left fielder moved to second on a wild pitch and Leblanc earned a walk before Kowalczyk brought both runners home with a single up the middle.

Ohio State would plate a run in the seventh to cut the Pitt lead to 6-5.

Trailing by one heading into the final frame, the Buckeyes tapped reliever Isaac Mattson for three runs to take the two-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

Keeping the drama alive, a triple to left center from Sherman would score Parry and Schnurbush and tie the contest at eight apiece.

Both clubs faced solid chances in extras, as the teams combined to strand seven runners in the first three frames of free baseball. Ohio State broke the silence in the 13th inning, as Troy Montgomery, who is now riding a 35-game reached base streak, singled through the right side to score shortstop Craig Nenning.

The Buckeyes would add two more runs in the 13th to take the 11-8 advantage.

Matt Johnson was able to send a single down the right field line in the bottom half of the inning, but could not find home plate, as Ohio State walked away with the victory, four hours and 54 minutes after the first pitch.

On the mound, Sandefur was efficient, going 5.0 innings, allowing just one hit and one unearned run. He walked just two batters and struck out five. Josh Falk saw 0.2 innings of relief work, allowing three runs (one earned) off of one hit, walking one and striking out one.

Mattson saw a significant chunk of the relief work, tossing 6.1 innings, allowing four hits, four earned runs and not allowing a walk. In addition, he fanned five. Jextin Pugh, who earned the loss, went 1.0 innings, allowing four hits, three earned runs and one walk.

"We had two really solid pitching performances by Sandefur and Mattson and played solid defensively," added Jordano. "It is going to be a quick turnaround for our game with Niagara, but I anticipate we will be ready."

Offensively, the Pitt bats remained hot as eight different Panther batters recorded at least one hit. Johnson led the charge, going 4-of-6 with one run scored, two runs batted in and one walk. Kowalczyk added a three-of-six outing, crossing home plate once and adding two runs batted in.

Wright, Schnurbusch and Maldonado each posted two-hit evenings, while Sherman added a pair of runs batted in.

With the loss, the Panthers fall to 2-1-0 on the season. They'll move on to face Niagara in their final game of the Historic Dodgertown Classic at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

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