Strong Start Lifts Panthers to Series Win at Virginia Tech

Sunday, April 17

Blacksburg, Va.

1:00 PM

Pitt

17-14, 8-9

Virginia Tech

12-25, 3-15

Pitt

Virginia Tech

Strong Start Lifts Panthers to Series Win at Virginia Tech

4/17/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 17, 2016

Box Score

BLACKSBURG, Va.  – A strong start from the Panthers’ hot bats lifted the University of Pittsburgh baseball team to an 8-3 victory over Virginia Tech in the series finale Sunday afternoon at English Field at Union Park.

With the victory, the Panthers captured the series win, taking two-of-three from the Hokies to improve to 8-9-0 in the ACC. The series win is the second of the season for the Panthers, who improve to 17-14-0 overall.

"That was a very big series win for us," said head coach Joe Jordano. "Josh (Falk) gave us some solid innings and Garrett (Wrambel) took us the rest of the way. We had several key situational and two-out RBI hits with Nick (Yarnall)adding a two-run homrun. The goal is to keep getting a little better each day. I believe we have much room to improve and I like the direction in which we are headed." 

Pitt stormed out in the first inning as Frank Maldonado got things going with a single up the middle. A walk to Charles Leblanc put a pair on for Alex Kowalczyk who sent a double down the left field line, scoring the pair.

In the second, David Yanni singled to left field, moving to second on a sacrifice bunt from Matt Johnson. Jacob Wright would single up the middle to score Yanni and give Pitt a 3-0 lead.

The Panther bats continued to shine in the third, as the Panthers scored five runs to jump out to an 8-0 lead. Kowalczyk sent his second double down the left field line to lead off the inning and a homerun from Nick Yarnall would bring the duo home.

Ronnie Sherman would draw a walk and move to second on a sacrifice bunt by Caleb Parry. Yanni singled up the middle to bring Sherman home and put Pitt up 6-0. Yanni would advance to second on a ground out by Matt Johnson. Wright would strike out swinging but took first on a wild pitch, moving to second on a throwing error by the catcher, allowing Yanni to score. Maldonado would continue his impressive weekend with a single up the middle, scoring Wright and giving Pitt an 8-0 advantage.

Starter Josh Falk was effective for the Panthers from the get go, retiring nine of the first 11 batters he faced through the third inning.

Falk got into a bit of trouble in the fourth, as the Hokies scored three to cut the lead to 8-3. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases before Falk would get Andrew Mogg to strike out swinging. In the next at bat, a single through the left side would score two. Matt Dauby would take a ball to the back to put runners on first and second. A sacrifice fly scored the third runner of the inning for the Hokies.

The scoring quieted for the remainder of the game as neither team was able to get on the board and Pitt held on for an 8-3 victory

Garrett Wrambel entered the game in the fifth and was lights out for the Panthers, 12 of 14 faced, including five straight from the fifth to the seventh. The senior earned his second win of the season, going five innings deep. Wrambel finished the game giving up just one hit, not surrendering a run or a walk and fanning two batters.

Falk went 4.2 innings, allowing three runs off of six hits, walking one and striking out three.

On the offensive side, Yarnall led the way for the Panthers, going 3-of-5 with a two-run home run. Maldonado went 2-of-4 with an RBI and run scored, while Kowalczyk was 2-of-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.

With the victory, the Panthers improve to 17-14-0 (8-9-0 ACC) and capture their second series victory of the season. 

The Panthers will return to action on Wednesday with a mid-week dual at Youngstown State. Pitt will welcome non-conference foe Miami (Oh) for a three-game stand the following weekend.

NOTES: The victory was the 811th career win for head coach Joe Jordano and the 528th in his tenure at Pitt … the Panthers improve to 17-14-0 and 8-9-0 in the ACC … Nick Yarnall recorded his eighth home run of the season, 12th of his career … Frank Maldonado improved his hit streak to six … Charles Leblanc improved his hit streak to five … Maldonado, Leblanc and Nick Yarnall improved their consecutive reached base streaks to six … Maldonado recorded two hits for the seventh time this season, bringing his multiple hit game total to 11 … Alex Kowalczyk recorded two hits for the sixth time this season, bringing his multiple hit game total to 11 … Yarnall posted three hits in the game for the first time this season, bringing his multiple hit game total to six … David Yanni registered three hits for the first time this season, bringing his multiple hit game total to five … Kowalczyk posted a pair of RBIs for the sixth time this season, bringing his multiple RBI game total to 10 … Yarnall added two RBIs for the third time this season, bringing his multiple RBI game total to six … Pitt is now 9-9 on the road and 4-5 in road ACC games … Pitt moves to 15-9 in day games and 9-5 in games played on turf … the Panthers move to 5-4 when wearing gray jerseys … Pitt moves to 9-4 against left handed starting pitchers … Pitt is now 14-2 when leading after six and 16-1 when leading after eight … the Panthers move to 10-4 when scoring first and 11-3 when scoring six or more runs … Pitt improves to 15-1 when out hitting the opponent and 12-4 when recording at least one home run … the Panthers move to 9-9 when committing one or no errors … Pitt is now 5-5 in the month of April and 6-2 on Sundays.

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