March 17, 2010
Box Score
PITTSBURGH -
Pitt overcame a nine-run deficit with a 10-run seventh inning to regain the lead, as the University of Pittsburgh baseball team opened its home schedule at Trees Field with a 15-11 victory over Youngstown State, this afternoon. The Panthers improved to 11-4 on the year, while the Penguins fell to 6-6 overall.
Trailing 11-2 at the start of its seventh inning, Pitt used seven hits and two YSU errors to take a 12-11 advantage in the ballgame.
It all began with a single up the middle from David Chester (Collinsville, Okla./Seminole CC), sending both Kevan Smith (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley) and Philip Konieczny (Phoenix, Ariz./Mountain Pointe) in for a score when the Penguin centerfielder lost the ball on a bounce. Chester then scored off a single from Cory Brownsten (Lockport, N.Y./Monroe CC).
Next, Danny Lopez (Queens, N.Y./Monsignor McClancy) drove in Brownsten with a single, which sailed over the second baseman’s head.
Joe Leonard (Dawson, Pa./Connellsville) followed with a single of his own with the bases loaded to score Zach Duggan (Cranberry, Pa./Seneca Valley), while a sacrifice hit allowed Lopez to score on the next at-bat.
Later in the inning, John Schultz (West Lawn, Pa./Wilson West Lawn) scored a run on a Konieczny walk. Chester would then clear the bases with a double off the centerfield wall, giving Pitt the lead for good.
In the top of the eighth, Nathan Hood (Cleburne, Texas/North Texas Central) struck out three batters. Pitt then added two more runs in the bottom of the frame before the Penguins retired their first Pitt batter. The Panthers recorded two singles to left field from Leonard and Sean Toole (Edwardsville, Pa./Lackawanna CC) to bring the runs home. Leonard would later post the final run of the game off a single from Konieczny.
The opening run of the game was notched by Schultz, who hit his first homer of the season in the first to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead.
Pitt struck again in the second when Smith led off the inning with a double to right-center and later scored on a sacrifice hit from Chester.
The Penguins answered in the third, scoring five runs on six hits including two homers.
Kevin Dooley (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) entered the game in the fourth and made quick work of the top of the Penguins lineup, retiring all three on strikes. He would start the fifth with another strikeout, his fourth straight, before giving up his first hit on the afternoon.
That hit was the first of three for Dooley, which led to another five-run inning for Youngstown State. The Penguins’ final run of the game came when Armani Johnson led off the seventh with a bomb through left center, giving the Penguins an 11-2 advantage.
Cole Taylor (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell) earned his first win of the season, giving up one run and two hits in two innings of work. Closing out the game was Hood, who threw two shutout innings and garnered four strikeouts.
Both Schultz and Smith scored three runs in the game, while Chester tallied five runs batted in.
The Panthers travel east this weekend with games against St. Joseph’s (Friday-3:15 p.m.), LaSalle (Saturday-1:15 p.m.) and Temple (Sunday-12:15 p.m.).
