Pitt Outlasts Flashes in Wild Mid-Week Matchup

Tuesday, April 12

6:00 PM

Kent State University

12-15

University of Pittsburgh

19-12

PITT

Kent State

Photo by: David Dermer

Pitt Outlasts Flashes in Wild Mid-Week Matchup

4/12/2022 10:16:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

KENT, OHIO- The Golden Flashes and the Pitt Panthers squared off in a wild and entertaining game on Tuesday night with the Panthers prevailing 12-5 in front of a packed house at Schoonover Stadium.

The Flashes struck first in the ball game with Aidan Longwell delivering a double down the right field line that scored Kyle Jackson. Kent State went on to load the bases in the first but settled for one run as Justin Miknis hit a one-hop strike back to the pitcher, resulting in a tough luck double play to end the inning.

Kent State started Rocco Bernadina on Tuesday night and fanned a pair in the first inning to pitch around a lead-off double. In the second, he ran into trouble, fanning two but walking the bases loaded. Calvin Bickerstaff relieved him, but Jeffrey Wehler won a 15-pitch at-bat and tripled on a sinking line-drive to clear the bases. Pitt scored four in the frame to lead it 4-1. Connor Ashby made it 4-2 in the bottom of the second, scoring on a wild pitch after reaching on a single to left.

It stayed 4-2 into the fifth. In the bottom of the inning, Michael McNamara tripled on a ball that hit the top of the wall in center field. After a Longwell walk, Collin Mathews attempted to lay down a squeeze bunt. It appeared that he had beaten the play to first, with the ball deflecting off him and down the right field line. The umpires huddled and ruled Mathews out of the base line and the obstruction call brought McNamara back to third and Longwell back to first on the dead ball. Miknis alleviated some of the pain with a run-scoring double to right to make it 4-3, but the Flashes could not tie the score.

Pitt made it 5-3 in the sixth off a triple that was lost in the lights and a run-scoring ground out. In the bottom of the inning, Kyle Jackson hit a two-out blast over the scoreboard in right. That homer gave a lucky Flashes fan free season tickets to the 2022 football season after she picked the sixth as the Kent State home run inning during a pre-game contest.

The Panthers tacked on four un-earned insurance runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach.

The loss drops Kent State to 12-15 on the year while Pitt improves to 19-12 overall. The Flashes are back in action this weekend, traveling to Toledo for a four-game set with the Rockets. First pitch on Friday is set for 3 p.m.