PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Niagara Purple Eagles made a late rally with pairs of runs in the sixth and eighth innings, but ultimately fell 6-4 to the Pittsburgh Panthers on Wednesday afternoon.
 
Julian Gallup and Tanner Kirwer both drew walks to open the inning and give Niagara (0-9) two men on with no outs in the sixth. Thomas Rodrigues singled through the right side to score Gallup and Michael Fuhrman send a sacrifice-fly to right field to score Kirwer and cut the lead to 5-2.
 
Pittsburgh (6-8) added a run in the seventh to extend its lead to four runs, but the Purple Eagles tacked on another two runs in the eight to close the gap. Owen Dziados walked and Fuhrman singled to put runners on with one out. Dale Miller followed up with a single through the left side to plate the first run of the inning. Daniel Procopio singled to move Fuhrman to third and Nick Bernick brought him home with a single up the middle.
 
That was as close as the Purple Eagles would get as they fell 6-4 in game two of the series.
 
Ben Zaccagnino started on the mound and gave up four runs on one hit and five walks in the loss. Michael Bucci, Matt McCuen, and Zachary Kolodziejski combined to throw the final four innings and gave up two runs on three hits and struck out two.
 
Niagara is back on the field this weekend when it takes part in the Philly Big Five tournament. The Purple Eagles will face Villanova on Friday, La Salle on Saturday and Saint Joseph's in the Sunday finale.