The Pittsburgh Panthers defeated the Canisius Golden Griffins 12-2 in seven innings, the first game of their Saturday doubleheader during the 2022 Snowbird Baseball Classic.
Junior right-hander Billy Corcoran started for Pitt and settled in after two early walks, completing the second and third innings in six and 10 pitches.
The Panthers took their first lead of 2022 against Canisius sophomore Levi Abbott. Sky Duff worked a leadoff walk, and Jeffrey Wehler drove him in with a home run to center field.
In the second, Jack Anderson hit a solo shot to increase the lead to three.
Panthers batters chased Abbott after 2 2/3 innings, 20 batters faced and six earned runs. Justin Guiliano replaced him and promptly gave up three more runs, all of them charged to Abbott, before Anderson hit a fly ball that died at the warning track to end the inning.
In the fourth inning, the Panthers got three hits with two outs to stretch the score to 12-0.
Canisius broke the shutout in the sixth inning, as redshirt freshman Josh Niles laced a pinch-hit RBI single to left-center. A groundout scored a runner from third, and Corcoran recovered to end the inning, retaining a 12-2 lead.
Corcoran didn’t record a strikeout in six innings of work, an anomalous outing for a power pitcher who averages nearly one per inning. He created 11 groundouts and seven flyouts.
True freshman Jonathan Bautista made his collegiate debut in relief of Corcoran, punching out his first batter faced as he closed out the top half of the seven0-inning doubleheader.
Pitt improved to 1-1 on the young season with the victory, after losing to Canisius in the opener on Friday. The Panthers’ next game begins 3:30 p.m., with Penn State transfer Logan Evans projected to start.
Let’s go!
H2P!