Privateers Baseball Holds Off Pittsburgh for Series Sweep, Moves to 9-2

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NEW ORLEANS – Daniel Martinez notched his fifth save of the year and the University of New Orleans baseball team (9-2) won 8-5 over the Pittsburgh Panthers (6-4) to complete the series sweep on Sunday at Maestri Field at First NBC Ballpark. The sweep was the first over a power five conference school since 1988 and UNO has also remained unbeaten at home (9-0).
 
The Privateers led by as many as six runs after the fourth. Pittsburgh grabbed two runs back in the fifth and had several threatening chances. In the seventh, UNO was leading 7-3 when the Panthers loaded the bases with nobody out. Coach Blake Dean made the call to Martinez to try to get a nine-out save.
 
Martinez allowed an RBI single to Caleb Parry that made the score 7-4 and put the tying run on base. The next three batters told a different tale though as Martinez struck out Frank Maldonado, Yaya Chentouf, and Manny Pazos in order to get out of the frame and keep the lead intact. Pittsburgh had one more threat as they brought the tying run to the plate with one out, but Martinez got a strikeout and a ground out to complete the sweep.
 
"That's the way Daniel has to throw," said Dean. "I didn't want to extend him that long, but we had to take the win. He did a great job today. He gave up that early hit, but he settled in and he was throwing his breaking ball for a strike and getting ahead in the count which made all the difference in the world."
 
UNO was able to take advantage of a couple of the first Pittsburgh miscue on the day, which propelled the Privateers to a 5-1 advantage. With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the third, the Privateers scored four runs. The last two came when Samuel Capielano tried to sacrifice runners to second and third and wound up reaching on an errant throw while both runners scored.
 
"If you give us more chances than what's allotted, we're probably going to capitalize," said Dean. "I don't think we swung the bat great today. We showed some spurts early in the game, but kind of lulled to sleep in the fifth through seventh."
 
The Privateers added two more runs in the fourth in early support of Jordan Priddle who dealt with traffic on the base paths early, stranding five Panthers through the first four innings. Priddle got into a jam in the fifth as he faced a bases loaded situation with no outs. After getting a double play ball, Priddle was lifted with two outs in the frame and Ryan Leone capped off the inning by inducing a ground out to first.
 
"Jordan got in a little bit of trouble, but he got a double play ball," said Dean. "I thought he was losing his stuff and typically third time through the lineup is where hitters get on him, but he did a great job and gave us a chance to win."
 
Dakota Dean went 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI double.  Kyle Bracey drove in three runs and went 2-for-3 as he ran his hitting streak to 11 games. Hezekiah Randolph went 2-for-4 with two runs and Aaron Palmer had two runs and a stolen base. Capielano also added two hits in three at-bats. Leone picked up the win as he pitched 1.1 innings of relief. 
 
Parry and Alex Kowalczyk had three hits a piece and each drove in a run. Yaya Chentouf got his first starting call of the season and went 1-for-4 with a walk. Panthers starter, Collin Liberatore lasted only two innings plus four batters and took the loss. Garrett Wrambel pitched the last four innings for the Panthers and allowed one run while striking out three. The Panthers stranded 13 runners on the afternoon.
 
UNO will be in action next on Tuesday against Southern. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
 
Season tickets for the 2016 campaign are available for as low as $125 and single-game tickets start at $5. For additional information, contact the UNO Atheltics Ticket Office at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or log on to the internet at http://www.unoprivateers.com.
 
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