Pitt Closes Spring Break Road Trip with USF

Tuesday, March 10

Tampa, FL

6:30 PM

Pitt

USF

Photo by: Simone Amaduzzi

Pitt Closes Spring Break Road Trip with USF

3/9/2020 6:06:00 PM | Baseball

Live Stats Live Stream Game Notes

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball (10-5, 0-3 ACC) finishes off its spring break road trip at USF (5-10, 0-0 American Athletic Conference) Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The other two games will be broadcasted through Bulls Vision.
Fans can follow along with live stats HERE.
Updates from the weekend also are provided on Twitter. Follow @Pitt_BASE for the latest news and updates about the team.

STARTING PITCHERS

Chris Cappas (1-0, 3.60 ERA, 1.50 WHIP) | Baron Stuart (0-1, 7.59 ERA, 1.57 WHIP)

LAST TIME OUT: NO. 6 MIAMI

Pitt was swept at Miami in its ACC opening series.
In the series-opener, the Panthers rallied from a 4-0 deficit late to send the game into extra innings, but the Hurricanes won on a walk-off solo homer in the 11th inning.
Kyle Hess led the way at the plate, going 6-11 (.545) with a double and a walk.
Bryce Hulett was the only other Panther to record a hit in all three games.

PANTHERS CRUSHING IT AT THE PLATE

Pitt has fielded a high-powered offense attack that has led to several blowout wins and allowed for three late-inning comebacks (Saint Joseph's, Iowa and Central Connecticut State).
The Panthers rank fourth in the nation in doubles per game (2.93). Individually, Kyle Hess (0.6) ranks fourth while Riley Wash (0.46) is 51st.
Pitt ranks in the top-100 in six other offensive categories: walks (16th, 86), on-base percentage (40th, .396), slugging percentage (41st, 0.441), scoring (42nd, 7.3 runs per game), batting average (61st, .281) and home runs per game (94th, 0.73).

BREAKOUT SOPHOMORES

Starting last year as freshmen, Kyle Hess and Sky Duff have both improved in their sophomore campaigns to be key players in the lineup once again.
Duff has started every game at second base and ranks in the ACC second in walks (18) and sixth in on-base percentage (.516).
In the nation, he ranks 10th in walks per game (1.2) and 65th in on-base percentage.
Batting leadoff the last five games, he has drawn nine walks.
Duff and Nico Popa have reached base in every game this season.
Hess has manned left field and ranks in the ACC second in doubles (nine), RBI's (20) and hits (24)
He's fourth in the nation in doubles, 31st in RBI's per game (1.33), 30th in total bases (41) and 41st in hits.
In the last six games, he's gone 12-22 (.545) with 11 RBI's, four doubles, a triple, a homer and four walks.

MANY, MANY NEW PANTHER FACES

Head coach Mike Bell welcomes 21 newcomers to this year's team, the most of any ACC squad.
These new players came from various routes before arriving to campus with nine JUCO transfers, 10 true freshmen out of high school and two Division I transfers.
The newcomers have already been trusted on to make immediate impacts, with four positions featuring new players starting every game: centerfield (Jordan Anderson), first base (Bryce Hulett and Grant Santangelo), third base (Samuel Frontino) and catcher (Riley Wash and Nick Vera).
Wash and Vera split duties behind the plate. Starting 10 of 13 games played, Wash ranks second on the team in OPS (1.039) and slugging percentage (.649). Eight of his 12 hits have gone for extra-bases (six doubles and two homers).
Hulett has gone 19-51 (.373) at the plate for the second-best batting average with a homer, four doubles and 10 RBI's.
Frontino has 13 walks in addition to six extra-base hits.
Anderson led off the batting order the first 10 games and recorded 13 hits, including three doubles and a triple, and a team-high six stolen bases.
The Panthers' pitching staff has relied heavily on the newcomers. Mitch Myers and Matt Gilbertson have both made four starts. Gilbertson (1.13 ERA) has allowed just three earned runs and six walks with 20 strikeouts in 24.0 innings pitched. Myers (3.52 ERA) has a team-best 7.5 (30/4) strikeout-to-walk ratio.

ALL TIME SERIES

USF has won 17 of the 21 all-time meetings, all as BIG EAST Conference Games.
The Panthers' last win (2-1) in the series came on April 13, 2012 at home.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT-USF

The Bulls were swept at No. 1 Florida by a combined score of 26-7 and have five road losses at top-10 opponents (7-5 to No. 6 Miami and 7-3 to No. 12 Florida State).
USF was picked to finish seventh in in the nine-team American Athletic Conference in the preseason coaches' poll with five starters and nine pitchers returning from last year's squad that went 36-22-1, 14-9-1
JD Dutka has been the team's best hitter so far, going 15-60 (.250) with four doubles.
Riley Hogan (12) and Nick Gonzalez (10) are the only other two teammates with double-digit hits.

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