Pitt Shutout by Penn State, 7-0

Tuesday, April 5

University Park, Pa.

6:30 PM

Pitt

13-12

Penn State

16-12

Pitt

Penn State

4/5/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 5, 2016

Box Score

STATE COLLEGE, PA – A silent performance from the offense led the University of Pittsburgh baseball team to a 7-0 shutout loss at the hands of in-state rival Penn State Tuesday evening in State College, Pa.

The Panthers mustered just three hits on the afternoon, the lowest offensive performance by Pitt on the season.

“Tonight was as poor an offensive performance as we’ve had this season,” said head coach Joe Jordano. “Disappointing to say the least. We obviously got off to a slow start, giving up three runs in the first. We simply cannot have innings like that. We have to put this behind us quickly because we have a very talented Georgia Tech team coming in this weekend.”

Penn State got the scoring started in the first, as three straight singles loaded the bases for starter Sam Mersing. Greg Guers would send a double through the right side to plate two before Tyler Kendal scored another on a sacrifice fly to give the Nittany Lions a 3-0 lead.

Ron Sherman started off the second inning with flair as he recorded his 11th triple of the year with a hard-hit ball into right center. The third baseman was stranded on third as Penn State starter Nick Hedge would retire the side to end the inning.

Mersing settled down over the next three frames, retiring nine of 11 batters faced to keep the Panthers in the game. Contrary to the Panthers’ performance on the season, the offense couldn’t muster a hit as Penn State remained in charge 3-0.

The Nittany Lions extended their lead in the fifth. A lead-off triple from Conlin Hughes started the inning off before the shortstop came around on a wild pitch. The following batter would double down the left field line and Jim Haley would draw a walk in the next at bat to put a pair on. Head coach Joe Jordano would head to the bullpen, calling on freshman Tyler Garbee.

A sacrifice groundout would record the first out of the inning, but put both runners in scoring position. Kendall singled up the middle and advanced to second on the throw, allowing a pair to score. Kendall would advance to third on a wild pitch and came home on a throwing error by Manny Pazos to give Penn State a 7-0 lead.

That would be the final scoring of the contest as Penn State held on for a 7-0 win under the lights at Medlar Field.  

With the loss, Pitt falls to 13-12-0 (5-7 ACC). Pitt will return to the diamond Friday in the first of three games against ACC rival Georgia Tech. All three contests can be seen live on ESPN3.

Notes: Pitt recorded just three hits, the lowest offensive output of the year … Ron Sherman extended his hit streak to five games … Charles Leblanc snapped a four-game hit streak … Leblanc snapped a nine-game reached-base streak … Caleb Parry extended his reached-base streak to seven … Pitt falls to 6-8 on the road and 1-5 in night games … the Panthers drop to 8-9 in games played on grass and 2-1 when wearing gold jerseys … Pitt is now 2-2 in shutouts and 7-3 against left handed starting pitchers … the Panthers drop to 1-9 when trailing after six and 0-11 when trailing after eight … Pitt drops to 3-10 when surrendering six or more runs and 1-9 when being out-hit … Pitt falls to 7-7 when committing one or less errors … the Panthers fall to 1-3 in the month of April and 0-1 on Tuesdays … Pitt is now 5-6 in games following a loss.

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