Penn State baseball (24-23, 6-14 Big Ten) was defeated by Pitt (23-27, 10-15 Pitt) 11-3 during its matchup Tuesday at PNC Park. The Nittany Lions extended their season-long losing streak to eight games, dating all the way back to their series against Rutgers.

Pitching continued to be a problem for Penn State as the pitching staff gave up double-digit runs for the fourth time in its last seven games. The offense got a couple of big RBI doubles from Thomas Bramley and Josh Spiegel, but couldn’t keep up with Pitt’s offense.

How It Happened

The first two innings saw no action from either team before the Nittany Lions struck first in the third inning. C.J. Pittaro hit a single up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Thomas Bramley stepped up for his second at-bat and smoked a double down the left-field line to score Pittaro and gave Penn State a 1-0 lead.

In the Panthers half of the third inning, two walks by starter Ryan Partridge put two runners on base for Pitt, and Noah Martinez stepped up with a chance to take the lead. Martinez did just that and sent a shot deep into center field to make it 3-1 in favor of the Panthers.

Pitt continued using the long ball to score and did so just one inning later by its team leader in home runs, CJ Funk. Funk smoked a ball to straightaway center for a solo home run and added another run for the Panthers to extend their lead to three.

Penn State got a run back in the sixth inning after a big hit by senior Josh Spiegel. A walk to Johnny Piacentino and a single by Bobby Marsh put two runners on for Spiegel and he smoked a double to center field to score a run and cut the Pitt lead to two.

However, the bottom of the sixth inning is when Pitt took over the game and scored four runs in the inning. Martinez led off the inning and scored off a single and an error from Jack Anderson. A double and walk by the next two batters loaded the bases. Justin Acal scored two more runs on a single to left and Anthony LaSala brought in another run to make it 8-2 for the Panthers.

In the seventh inning, Pitt added three more runs to extend its lead once again. A hit by a pitch and a walk put two runners on for Kyle Hess, and he smacked a three-run home run of his own into right-center field to make it 11-2.

The Nittany Lions added a run back in the eighth inning. Piacentino hit a double to center and crossed home thanks to a single to right field off the bat of Marsh. Penn State loaded the bases by way of an error and walk but failed to score any more runs. In the ninth inning, Penn State couldn’t rally and was defeated 11-3.

Takeaways:

• Pitching is a problem. Two three-run homers and a solo shot were big momentum shifts for Pitt and put Penn State in a huge deficit.
• The offense left seven runners on base and failed to capitalize on key situations throughout the game. While being down nine runs at one point isn’t an easy hole to dig out of and, until this team put any serious runs on the board, it is going to continue to lose.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will wrap up their 2023 season with a three-game series at home against Maryland. The first game of the series begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 18, at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Folks can tune into the game on the Big Ten Network.