Fort Myers, Fla. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford baseball team moved to 3-1 on their Spring Break trip as they defeated Alvernia 6-2 on Thursday.
- Reid Tarnowski started on the mound for the Panthers who served as the home team for the neutral site game. He allowed a runner to reach in the first but stranded the runner in scoring position after he stole a base. The Panthers went down in order in the first two innings, but Tarnowski was able to hold the Golden Wolves off the board, allowing the Panthers to jump ahead in the 3rd.
- Bret Babcock drew a leadoff walk and quickly moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch. With one out, Nico Hall drove a fly ball into left field to bring in Babcock and put the Panthers ahead.
- Alvernia struck back in the top of the fourth, scoring two unearned off Tarnowski. The leadoff batter for Alvernia singled to start the inning and moved to second on a passed ball. Tarnowski then hurt his own cause as he committed a throwing error on the next play to allow the run to score. After a sacrifice bunt, Alvernia singled to right to bring in a second run and take a 2-1 advantage.
- The Golden Wolves' lead did not last long, as Pitt-Bradford quickly struck for 5 runs in the bottom of the 4th to retake the lead. Evan Fragela led off the inning with a single through the left side and moved all the way to third on a Jake McNabb single to right-center that was mishandled in the outfield. After a strikeout, Noah Meyers reached on an Alvernia throwing error which allowed Fragela to score and left Panther runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.
- Babcock then stepped up and sent a single down the right-field line to bring in both runners and put the Panthers back in the lead. Following another Alvernia throwing error and a sacrifice bunt, Kevin Rehak hit a two-out single into right field to score two Panther runs.
- Looking to keep the momentum on the Panthers' side Tarnowski returned to the mound in the top of the 5th and saw two Alvernia batters reach on a single and fielders' choice. Tarnowski settled down from there, as he struck out a batter, got a second to fly out to right, and then got some help from his catcher as McNabb threw out a runner attempting to steal third to end the inning.
- Tarnowski cruised through the 6th and 7th inning, allowing only two infield hits. The Panthers threatened to add to the lead in the 6th as David Gebhard and Nico Hall both singled with one out, but were left on 2nd and 3rd as Tyler Aires lined out to third base to end the inning.
- Tarnowsi retired two of the first three batters in the 8th but was replaced after allowing a single to left with a total of 115 pitches. Brayden Hageter entered the game from the bullpen and quicky got the third out of the inning on a fly ball to right.
- Pitt-Bradford went down in order in the 8th, sending Hageter back to the mound for the 9th inning with a 4 run lead. Hageter walked the leadoff batter but induced a 5-4-3 double play to erase the runner and get the Golden Wolves down to their final out. He then closed the game with a final fly-out to right field.
Reid Tarnowski (1-1) earned the win for the Panthers. He allowed just 2 unearned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in 7 and 2/3 innings pitched. He struck out 6 batters. Hageter pitched the final 1 and 1/3 for Pitt-Braddord, earning his first career save in the process. Seven different Panthers recorded hits in the game with only Kevin Rehak recording a multi-hit game. Rehak finished 2-3 and had 2 RBIs. Bret Babcoc also drove in a pair as he finished 1-3 from the plate and scored 2 Panther runs. Nico Hall had the only other RBI for Pitt-Bradford.
The Panthers move to 3-4 on the season after the victory on Thursday. They will be right back in action on Friday as they will play a split doubleheader. They will compete in two 9 inning games on the day with the first coming against Plymouth State at 9:00 a.m. and the second against Otterbein at 12:00 p.m.