The Pittsburgh Panthers scored five runs within the first two innings Tuesday. It was enough to nearly run-rule the Kent State baseball team as they ran away with a 13-4 win.
Pitt’s offense had its first outburst in the second inning when the Panthers touched up KSU for five runs off redshirt pitchers junior Gavin Jones and sophomore Evan Holewinski. Coach Jeff Duncan described their performance as “uncharacteristic.”
Jones walked the first two batters of the inning in what became a four-walk day for him. Those runs came around to score on a sacrifice fly and a single, which knocked Jones out of the game after recording just three outs.
(Braeden Joyce)
Holewinski then came in to try and get some length but was greeted by redshirt senior Lorenzo Carrier’s RBI single before a rare error by Luke Matthews led to two unearned runs to make it 5-0.
“When you have a good team, a good opponent like that, and you give them free bases that often, they can cash in,” Duncan said.
Redshirt junior Ripken Reese homered in the fourth, but that was all the offense was able to get. Sophomore southpaw Antonio Doganiero had the best start of his career, tossing seven innings with five hits, one earned run and four strikeouts.
Duncan was happy with the offensive performance, feeling they had good at-bats despite the scoreboard not reflecting it.
“He threw really good, [allowed] soft contact, but the balls we hit hard were right at guys, and they played some pretty good defense,” Duncan said.
The Flashes would keep the Panthers off the scoreboard until the eighth, partly due to two solid innings from redshirt senior Rocco Bernadina, who made his first appearance since the first weekend of the season.
“I thought he was really good,” Duncan said. “It’s been a long time coming for him. We’ll use him a lot moving forward.”
A long night became an even worse night when junior pitcher Brody Krzysiak came in and lost control of the strike zone, walking the bases loaded before redshirt junior Trey Fenderson knocked him out of the game with a single.
Redshirt junior Jordan Kolenda relieved Krzysiak and was greeted with a single and a two-base error that cleared the bases, putting the Panthers ahead 9-1.
Another walk and single loaded the bases for Pitt senior Jackson Cooke, who cleared any remaining doubts about the result of the game with a grand slam straight to center field.
Facing being run-ruled, KSU needed some momentum to return, not only to keep the game alive, but have a shot at winning spectacularly.
It started hot with a walk from sophomore leadoff hitter Micah Rienstra-Kiracofe and a single from sophomore right fielder Sawyer Solitaria.
Redshirt freshman Nolan Belcher then clobbered a three-run shot to left field to guarantee a ninth inning.
The magic, however, extinguished quietly, with the Flashes being retired 1-2-3 to end the game.
On Deck
The Miami RedHawks will visit Schoonover Stadium for a series against the KSU Flashes.
This anticipated series will pit the favorites and runner-ups in the preseason poll of the Mid-American Conference.
Miami, however, will be fighting to stay afloat in the MAC after a stunning sweep by the Northern Illinois Huskies.
Friday’s game is projected to match senior aces Ciaran Caughey and Zac Sohosky against each other.
“I know they’re gonna be hungry,” Duncan said. “We just need to play Kent State baseball.”
Stone O’Bryant is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
