Niles, Ohio -- The Youngstown State baseball team nearly erased an early seven-run deficit but came up a run short in a 7-6 loss to Pittsburgh in the Penguins' home opener on Tuesday at Eastwood Field.
    After Pittsburgh scored the first seven runs of the game by the fourth inning, YSU came back to score six in the next three innings.
    Pitt scored three in the second and four in the third, but YSU's bullpen held the Panthers scoreless in the final five innings.
    Chris Warner walked to start the second, and Danny Lopez followed with a double to right center. Matt Litzinger then hit a three-run homer over the right field wall as Pitt had three runs in with nobody out.
    The Penguins loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the third and couldn't score, and Pitt came back to score four tallies in the top of the fourth. Three of those runs came after there were two outs.
    Zach Duggan scored Litzinger on a one-out single by Jacke Healey's glove at short for the first run. Phil Klein came in and struck out Chris Sedon for the second out, but the next four batters reached on a single and three walks. Frank Mercurio had a two-run single with the bases loaded, and Lopez walked with the bases loaded to put the Panthers up 7-0.
    Jeremy Banks led off the fifth with a double, YSU's first hit, and give the offense some life. Joe Iacobucci then ripped a single to left center to plate Banks for YSU's first run.
    Iacobucci's sacrifice fly in the sixth brought in Casey Holland, and John Koehnlein singled two batters later to score Anthony Porter. C.J. Morris and Banks then scored on a wide throw to first by Lopez at short.
    Eric Marzec hit a solo blast to left to lead off the seventh, but Mike Wood got a strike out and double play to get out of the inning. Rick Breymier and Nate Reed allowed one hit in the final two innings, and Reed needed just one pitch to earn his first save.
    Holland had two of YSU's eight hits, and four players had two hits apiece for Pitt. Litzinger's three-run homer accounted for all of his game-high three RBIs.
    Ryan Dunford ended up allowing five runs, three of which were earned, on four hits and five walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out six and did not allow a hit until the fifth.
    Corey Vukovic was charged with the loss, allowing six runs on six hits in 3.1 innings. Anthony Munoz and Marzec combined to throw five scoreless innings out of the bullpen.
    The Penguins will travel to Akron on Wednesday for a game at 3 p.m.