Seventh Inning Dooms Tartans
April 19, 2008
Tied 7-7 after 6 innings, the Tartans gave up 5 runs in the top of the seventh and fell to Pitt 12-7. Freshman Zach Cohen gave the Tartans 5 quality innings and the offense twice mounted comebacks to tie the game, but it wasn't to be.
Cohen struggled with his control at times, but was always hard to hit, as he struck out 7 and allowed only 4 hits. He allowed 5 runs (4 ER) before yielding to fellow freshman Francisco Santiago. Santiago had two good outings against Kent State two weeks ago, but had some bad luck in his outing this time.
Pitt got a walk and a single to start the sixth before a sinking line drive got past right fielder Tim Sandy for a triple to score two. Santiago was able to keep the runner at third for the rest of the inning to make the score 7-5 heading to the bottom of the sixth.
Freshman Joe Seymour led off the sixth with a single to center. After Sandy smashed a rope into the pitcher's glove for the first out, sophomore James Langhauser crushed a ball over the center fielder's head that appeared to go off the top of the wall. Langhauser legged out a triple and Seymour scored easily, cutting the deficit to one. The club would later find out from the Pitt outfielder that the ball hit a branch above the fence and came back in, and should have been ruled a home run. In the end though, it didn't matter, as junior Mike Niedzwiecki singled him home to tie the game.
The wheels came off in the seventh, as the first three batters reached to load the bases. Langhauser couldn't nab the runner at the plate with a rifle throw from center on a sac fly, and Pitt took the lead for good. Four more runs would cross the plate before Langhauser came in to relieve and record the last out. Down five, the Tartans went quietly in the bottom of the seventh and suffered a tough loss in a hard fought game.
Head coach Claudio Reilsono noted: "It was another tough game to lose. Although we have some key players missing (Ryan Comes & Jim Stedman), we kept fighting back which is all I ever ask my teams to do. Zach Cohen pitched a solid game. He is going to be a major part of any success we have in the future. Joe Seymour and James Langhauser had great offensive days while Yoshi Kim came through in the clutch. We made a good run at Pitt tying the score up at 7 but we had a ball get by in right and a chopper to our SS Mike Niedzwiecki that was actually lost in the sun. A few breaks here and there and things would have been different. But in life and in sports you have to make your own breaks and we didn't. We won't quit. We will keep at it and I feel we will finish strong as we always have."