Penn State defeats Pitt, 11-6, sweeps season series

The Pitt baseball team drew 12 walks and knocked 12 base hits Wednesday night, but the number players and coaches will likely remember is 18.

As in, 18 men left on base.

Pitt (25-20 overall, 10-13 ACC) dropped the second game of its home-and-home season series against Penn State (26-23 overall) at Charles L. Cost Field on Wednesday night, 11-6.

The Panthers failed to pick up a win against their in-state rival for the second consecutive year after leaving runners on base in each of the first eight innings, continuously failing to convert hits into runs.

The Nittany Lions jumped out to an early lead with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.

Pitt got a run back on junior Nick Yarnall’s RBI single in the bottom of the first, then took the lead with two runs in the second. RBI singles from Yarnall and sophomore Frank Maldonado in the fourth extended the Panthers’ lead to 5-2.

Penn State scored in the top of the fifth to cut the lead to two, and the score remained 5-3 when Pitt left the bases loaded for the second time.

The teams traded runs in the sixth, but again, the Panthers left the bases full.

The Nittany Lions took advantage, tying the game in the top of the seventh. After Pitt left two more runners on the basepaths in the bottom half, Penn State blew the game open in the eighth.

Senior Garrett Wrambel gave up a pair of singles to start the inning, then an RBI single by junior Alex Malinsky put the Nittany Lions in front. Senior Greg Guers would add a two-out, three-run home run to give Penn State an 11-6 lead.

Looking to mount a comeback, Pitt juiced the bases again in the bottom of the eighth.

Once again, the Panthers failed to capitalize and came away empty. It was their eighth consecutive inning leaving at least one runner on base, and their fourth time leaving the bases full.

For the first time all night, the Nittany Lions kept Pitt off the basepaths in the bottom of the ninth, wrapping up a come-from-behind 11-6 victory and sweeping the season series for the second year in a row.

The Panthers have no time to dwell on this game’s missed opportunities if they want to make the ACC tournament.

Pitt travels to Miami, Florida, to face one of its toughest opponents yet for a three-game conference series against the No. 4 Miami Hurricanes beginning on Friday, May 13, at 7 p.m.