Pitt Drops Tight Contest Against No. 3 UNC, 3-1

Saturday, April 22

Pittsburgh, Pa.

3:00 PM

Pitt

16-20, 7-13-0

North Carolina

31-8, 16-4-0

North Carolina

Pittsburgh

Pitt Drops Tight Contest Against No. 3 UNC, 3-1

4/22/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

PITTSBURGH - The University of Pittsburgh baseball team dropped its second game of the series to third-ranked North Carolina, 3-1, Saturday at Charles L. Cost Field. Senior Josh Falk was stellar on the mound for the Panthers, allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits in 8.0 innings of work.

At the plate, Nick Banman drove in the lone run for Pitt with an RBI single to right in the ninth, scoring Caleb Parry.

The Panthers drop to 16-20 (7-13 ACC) on the season while No. 3 North Carolina improves to 31-8 (16-4 ACC).

"As I told the team after the game, I've been doing this for 30 years and that might have been the best seven innings of baseball I've ever seen pitched," said head coach Joe Jordano. "He [Falk] had incredible command. He's a bulldog. He got after it, gave us a chance and I had a feeling that when games go like that there's going to be something out of the ordinary that is going to make the difference. As you saw in the eighth inning, it was a little frustrating but he kept battling and gave us a chance. That was an incredible performance from Josh Falk."

The Coastal Division foes both struggled offensively for the majority of the contest, totaling three hits aside. Falk faced the minimum through the first three innings, striking out two. In the fourth, UNC's Ashton McGee reached on a fielding error before Falk settled back in to retire the next 10 batters he faced.

The right-hander brought a no-hit bid into the eighth before Brandon Riley recorded the Tar Heels' first hit of the day on an infield single to second. With Riley on first, Falk hit the next batter and gave up a single through the right side to load the bases. Unphased, Falk was able to force a pop out to second, followed by a strikeout in an attempt to escape the bases loaded jam.

During the next at bat, North Carolina scored their first run on a passed ball, as Riley came across and two runners moved into scoring position. The Tar Heels added two more when Brian Miller doubled to left in the same at bat. Falk escaped further damage with an inning-ending strike out.

Falk finished with nine strikeouts over 8.0 innings pitched. Sam Mersing came in in relief to start the ninth inning and worked around a leadoff hit by pitch to keep the Panthers in striking distance heading into the home half of the inning.

With one away, Parry was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a groundout. With two outs, Banman drove the ball into right field to put the Panthers on the board and bring the tying run to the plate. North Carolina went to the bullpen and called upon Josh Hiatt to record the final out. He struck out the only batter he faced and sealed the second victory of the weekend for the Tar Heels.

"I think from our perspective we need to take some better at bats," added the skipper. "I thought we wasted a few today. Our guys are playing hard and that's all I can ask them to do. They go up to the plate, they're competing and they played well defensively again today. I think when you look at the overall picture we are right there, we just haven't been able to get over the top.

"The thing that I try and emphasize to the team is to keep at it, keep competing every day. That's the most important thing, regardless of if we won two, lost two, or split, it doesn't affect what we do going into tomorrow. We just have to play hard, flush it and come out tomorrow with a freshman on the mound in [Dan] Hammer. We are looking forward to that, love how he competes and we will see what happens."

UP NEXT
Pitt and the Tar Heels will conclude the series tomorrow, as the two teams are set to face off in a noon matchup at Charles L. Cost Field. Freshman Dan Hammer will get the call on the bump for the Panthers.

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