Friday, March 26
Pittsburgh, Pa.
3 PM
Pitt
vs
Virginia Tech
Photo by: Elliott P Finebloom
No. 14 Pitt Faces No. 22 Virginia Tech in First Home ACC Series
3/25/2021 11:42:00 PM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH – No. 14 Pitt baseball (12-5, 8-4 ACC) faces No. 22 Virginia Tech (10-8, 6-6) in its first ACC home series Friday and Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
HOW TO FOLLOW
STARTING PITCHERS
HIGHEST RANKING IN PROGRAM HISTORY
NO. 2 RPI RANKING
LAST TIME OUT-BUCKNELL
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT-NO. 22 VIRGINIA TECH
ALL-TIME SERIES
UP NEXT
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram
HOW TO FOLLOW
- Friday and Saturday's games are available to be streamed on WatchESPN/ACCNX, and Sunday has an ACC Network Broadcast.
- Fans can also follow along with live stats updates through Twitter. Follow @Pitt_BASE for the latest news and updates about the team.
STARTING PITCHERS
- Friday: RHP Mitch Myers (2-2, 2.56 ERA, 1.14 WHIP)| LHP Peyton Alford (0-1, 4.79 ERA, 1.35 WHIP)
- Saturday: RHP Matt Gilbertson (3-2, 3.52 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) | TBA
- Sunday: TBA | TBA
HIGHEST RANKING IN PROGRAM HISTORY
- Pitt recorded its highest-ever ranking in program history, garnering the No. 14 slot in the Baseball America Poll released Monday.
- The Panthers are ranked in the top-20 all five major polls: DIBaseball.com (No. 15), Collegiate Baseball (No. 18), USA TODAY Sports Coaches' Poll (No. 18) and National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (No. 20).
- Last week Pitt debuted in the top-25 nationally for the first time since May 13, 2013 with selections in the polls by DIBaseball.com (No. 18) and Baseball America (No. 19). The rankings are the first since joining the ACC for the 2014 season.
- The last team to be ranked at all, the 2013 Panthers' squad was ranked as high as 16th by Collegiate Baseball on May 13, 2013.
- With the series win over the Cavaliers this past weekend, the Panthers wrapped up a 16-game streak away from home with four ACC weekend series to start the season with an 11-5 overall record and 8-4 league mark that ties North Carolina and Georgia Tech atop the Coastal Division. Pitt has recorded its best start 12 games into league action.
NO. 2 RPI RANKING
- The NCAA released its first RPI rankings of the season Thursday, and the Panthers were slotted second (.6487) behind just Arkansas.
- Pitt has the ninth-toughest strength of schedule so far this season, and own a nation-best eight wins against quadrant one teams, including a series win over the No. 3 team, Indiana State.
- All but two games have come against quadrant one and two teams.
- The ACC (.7363) also ranks second in the conference RPI rankings.
LAST TIME OUT-BUCKNELL
- Pitt won its home-opener 17-9 over Bucknell Wednesday evening.
- David Yanni racked up seven RBIs on a grand slam, two-run triple and hit by pitch with the bases loaded again.
- Chris Gomez allowed just one run in 4.1 innings of relief to pick up his first win of the season.
- The Panthers had 18 hits with six going for extra-bases.
- Ron Washington, Jr. had a game-high four hits, and Nico Popa and Samuel Frontino both went 3-5.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT-NO. 22 VIRGINIA TECH
- Virginia Tech is ranked as high as No. 22 in the Baseball America Poll.
- The Hokies started out the season hot with six wins in its first eight games, including series wins at then-No. 6 Miami and at home to then-No. 25 North Carolina.
- Redshirt-freshman infielder TJ Rumfield leads the team in hitting with a .373 batting average while freshman outfielder Gavin Cross has a team-best 1.115 OPS with 10 extra-base hits.
- Sophomore left-handed pitcher Chris Gerard has been the Saturday starter but went just three innings last weekend against Clemson, and the Hokies have used several other starters to complete with weekend rotation with Alford and Gerard.
ALL-TIME SERIES
- Pitt leads the series 20-17 with a history that dates back to when the schools faced off in the BIG EAST.
- The schools have split the 18 games as ACC opponents with three series wins each.
UP NEXT
- Pitt plays its first ACC series at home against Virginia Tech, beginning Friday at 3 p.m.
#H2P | Twitter | Instagram
Players Mentioned
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