Panthers Fall in Finale at Notre Dame

Sunday, May 8

South Bend, Ind.

1:05 PM

Pitt

24-19, 10-13

Notre Dame

26-20, 10-12

Pitt

Notre Dame

Panthers Fall in Finale at Notre Dame

5/8/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 8, 2016

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, IND.  – The Panthers dropped the final game of a three-game tilt at Notre Dame, Sunday afternoon, falling to the Fighting Irish by a score of 5-0 at Eck Stadium.

Despite the loss, Pitt still earns the series victory as the Panthers earned back-to-back wins in the opening games.

"They proved once again how tough it is to win, let alone sweep on the road," said head coach Joe Jordano. "I'm disappointed with today's outcome but our club did a solid job this weekend overall. Aaron (Sandefur) threw well and a few pitches he left up led to a couple runs. We did not give him the offensive support he deserved. We just couldn't get any momentum generated offensively. We hit some balls hard with no results. Our focus now turns soley to YSU on Tuesday, we have to take each game one at a time." 

Notre Dame struck early in the first inning as a pair of two-out singles put runners on for Matt Vierling, who would single to right center, scoring the first run of the game.

Both pitchers would toss scoreless second innings, but the Fighting Irish added a pair in the bottom of the third to jump out to a 3-0 advantage. Cavan Biggio led off with a single up the middle, stealing second before a walk was ushered to Nick Podkul. In the next at bat, Ricky Sanchez would double to right field, scoring Biggio. A sacrifice fly from Jake Shepski gave the Fighting Irish the three-run lead.

The Panthers threatened in the fourth as Nick Yarnall took a full-count walk, moving to third on a single from Ron Sherman. Despite their hot-streak in two-out situations, Pitt stranded the pair.

Notre Dame added another in the fifth as Biggio doubled to left center, stealing third before a foul out by Podkul would bring him home, putting the Panthers down 4-0.

Aaron Sandefur retired the side in order in the sixth, but the Panther offense couldn’t muster anything in the seventh. The senior would return to the hill for the bottom of the seventh, once again retiring the Irish in order.

In the eighth, the Panthers loaded the bases after a pair of singles from Jacob Wright and Yarnall. A walk to Alex Kowalczyk put three Panthers on as David Yanni entered the game as pinch hitter. Yanni got ahead of the count but popped up to the shortstop to end the inning.

Isaac Mattson took over on the bump in the eighth, allowing a single and bringing Vierling to the plate with two outs. An error on Schnurbusch would allow pinch runner Tory Hunter, Jr. to score, upping the Notre Dame lead to 5-0. Mattson would get the final out in the next at bat, stranding a runner at second.

The Panther offense couldn’t come up with the comeback in the ninth, as they dropped the series finale by a score of 5-0. With the loss, Pitt falls to 24-19-0, 10-13 in the ACC.

Despite a nice outing, Sandefur earned the loss, falling to 3-4 on the season. Offensively, Maldonado was the only Panther to produce a multiple-hit game, going 2-of-4 on the afternoon.

The Panthers will return to action on Tuesday and Wednesday, welcoming regional foes Youngstown State and Penn State to Chares L. Cost Field. ACC play will resume the following weekend as Pitt hits the road, traveling to Miami for a three-game stint with the Hurricanes.

Notes: Jacob Wright extended his hit-streak to six games … Frank Maldonado and Charles Leblanc extended their hit streak to three games … Leblanc extended his reached-base streak to 18 games, the longest of the season by any Panther … Aaron Schnurbusch increased his reached-base streak to 12 … Maldonado added two hits on the afternoon for the 13th time this season, bringing his multiple hit game total to 18 … Pitt falls to 12-10 on the road and 6-6 in road ACC meetings … Pitt falls to 19-12 in day games and 15-10 on games played on turf … Pitt is now 11-7 in games in which they wear blue jerseys … the Panthers are now 3-3 in shutouts and 11-6 against left handed starting pitchers … the Panthers fall to 2-14 when trailing after six and 0-17 when trailing after eight … Pitt falls to 4-15 when being out-hit by the opponent and 13-12 when committing one or no errors … the Panthers fall to 3-3 in the month of May and 6-3 on Sundays.  

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