Penn State clobbers Pitt, 7-0

Coming off a gem of a series in Clemson last weekend, the Pitt baseball team put up a lackluster effort in State College Tuesday night.

The Panthers (13-12, 5-7 ACC) ran into Penn State senior left-hander Nick Hedge, who had no trouble slicing through Pitt’s offense. Hedge was nearly unhittable, tossing six scoreless frames while allowing only two hits in a 7-0 win for the Nittany Lions (16-12, 4-2 Big Ten).

Junior Sam Mersing had a rough start for Pitt, giving up three singles in a row to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning.

Penn State cleanup hitter Greg Guers brought two runs home with a double to right, and a sacrifice fly by Tyler Kendall gave the Nittany Lions an early 3-0 lead.

Panthers cleanup hitter Ron Sherman led off the top of the second with his 11th triple of the season, but Hedge stranded him after striking out the next three batters.

Penn State piled onto its lead in the fifth when leadoff man Conlin Hughes tripled to center field then scored on a wild pitch. Mersing then gave up a double and a walk before Pitt head coach Joe Jordano pulled him for freshman reliever Tyler Garbee.

Guers bunted the runners over to second and third for the Nittany Lions. Kendall then brought them both home with a single before scoring himself on a wild pitch and throwing error to extend Penn State’s lead to 7-0.

Dakota Forsyth replaced Hedge on the mound for the Nittany Lions to start the seventh inning, but Pitt struggled to get any offense going.

“Tonight was as poor an offensive performance as we’ve had this season,” Jordano said in a release. “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.”

Forsyth shut the Panthers down in the seventh and eighth innings before senior Jared Fagnano retired the side in the ninth to close out the 7-0 shutout for Penn State.

“We have to put this behind us quickly because we have a very talented Georgia Tech team coming in this weekend,” Jordano said.

The Panthers return home from their four-game road trip to begin a three-game series against ACC opponent Georgia Tech at Charles L. Cost Field at 6 p.m. Friday, April 8.