Posted: Mar 28, 2024
Meadville, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford baseball team nearly erased an early 14-0 deficit at Allegheny on Thursday night but fell just short as they ultimately lost 17-14.
Pitt-Bradford struggled early on as they stranded 6 runners on base over their first three at-bats, all while allowing Allegheny to score 14 runs in the same three frames. The Gators scored 1 in the 1st, 2 in the 2nd, and then exploded for 11 runs on 6 hits and 5 free passes in the 3rd.
In the 4th, the Panthers rallied with two outs to immediately cut the deficit in half. Following a leadoff double, the Panthers scored their first run on two straight groundouts. Nico Hall began the two-out rally, hitting a home run to left field, his 3rd of the season. The next 6 Pitt-Bradford batters reached on 3 free passes and 3 singles. Maxwell Rogers, Bret Babcock, and Noah Avey all had RBI hits in the rally.
Sophomore Garrett Smith started his outing to begin the 4th and was able to keep the Gators to just 1 run over 4.0 innings of work, allowing the Panthers to continue to chip away at the lead. They scored one run in both the 5th and 7th innings before breaking out for 5 in the 8th. This time, the Panthers rallied early in the inning. Following a leadoff single and a hit batter, Alex Ognen singled into left to bring in the first run. A hit batter loaded the bases and then after a pitching change, Andrew Bokulich singled in two runs and Evan Fragela added 2 more on a double to left center. Pitt-Bradford put two more runners on later in the frame, but could not bring in the tying run.
The hosts responded in the bottom of the 8th, scoring two insurance runs to go ahead 17-14. The Panthers were not able to come up with a final rally, going down in order in the 9th to bring the slugfest to an end.
Collin Porter (0-2) was saddled with the loss after allowing 6 runs, 5 earned in 2.1 innings pitched. Garrett Smith pitched 4 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 3. Offensively, the Panthers pounded out 18 hits. 7 Panthers recorded multi-hit games, led by Maxwell Rogers, Bret Babcock, and Noah Avey, who each had 3. Nico Hall finished 2 for 5 with a home run, a double, and 3 runs scored.
The Panthers record falls to 7-13. They will open their home slate tomorrow, as their weekend doubleheader against LaRoche was pushed up a day due to inclement weather in the forecast for Saturday. First pitch is slated for 1:00 p.m. on the baseball field at the Kessel Athletic Complex.
