The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford baseball team (7-16) fell, 14-7, to Baldwin Wallace (13-17) on Sunday afternoon at the Kessel Athletic Complex.
"We ran into a very good program from a very good league," said Pitt-Bradford head coach Bret Butler. "Our guys fought the entire game and never gave up. We are young and have to play with grit, and that's what they did."
Jay Clinger led the Panther's offense, going 2-3 with three RBI while Jean Turber went 2-4 with a two-run triple. Kevin Sompel and Keagen Goodliff drove in one run each while Pat James, Tim Brown, Sawyer Packard, Shane Haberberger and Jacob Rivers added one hit each in the loss.
Jonathan Polanco was very effective out of the bullpen for the Panthers, tossing four innings of shutout baseball, allowing just two hits while striking out three.
"It was nice to see Jonathan pitch well in relief for us," Butler said. "It would have been easy for our guys to pack it in, but they didn't. I am very proud of their 12 round fight mentality. They never hit the canvas. These guys are going to be a darn good team in 12 months."
Alex Marcum drove in five runs to lead the Yellow Jacket's offense while Spencer Badia and Reese Albright drove in a pair of runs. Cole Nieto, Matt Koskinen, Kevin Hagen and Chase Knodle drove in one run each in the victory.
The Yellow Jackets got out to a hot start, scoring six runs in top of the first before adding two runs in the second, four in the fourth and then two more in the sixth to take an early 12-0 lead.
However, the Pitt-Bradford offense awoke for five runs in the home half of the seventh. Packard started the rally with an infield single, followed by three straight walks from Josh Zeilinski, Brock Blovsky, and Sompel, bringing the first run home. Turber was then hit by a pitch, forcing Zeilinski in from third. Clinger then roped a two-run single, followed by a bases loaded walk by Goodliff later in the inning, bringing the panthers within 14-5 after seven.
Pitt-Bradford added two more on a Turber RBI triple to right and a Clinger sacrifice fly, making it a 14-7 ballgame after eight innings of play.
However, neither team plated a run in the final inning and Baldwin Wallace picked up the 14-7 victory over the Panthers.
Pitt-Bradford returns to action Tuesday afternoon for an AMCC doubleheader against D'Youville at Coca-Cola Field in Buffalo, N.Y. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.
