No. 10 Pitt Defeats No. 6 North Carolina 5-3 in ACC Tournament Opener

Tuesday, May 25

Charlotte, N.C.

Pitt

23-19

North Carolina

26-25

Pitt

North Carolina

Photo by: Laura Wolff-ACC

No. 10 Pitt Defeats No. 6 North Carolina 5-3 in ACC Tournament Opener

5/26/2021 12:38:00 AM | Baseball

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CHARLOTTE – No. 10 seed Pitt (23-19) beat No. 6 North Carolina (26-25) 5-3 in Pool C of the ACC Tournament Tuesday night at Truist Field. The Panthers take on No. 3 NC State Thursday at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to the semifinals Saturday.

?? THE CATS ARE IN THE WIN COLUMN?? ??

Check out the highlights from tonight's 5??-3?? ACC Tournament win over North Carolina. #H2P | #ACCBASE pic.twitter.com/OaPMhouJfJ
— Pitt Baseball (@Pitt_BASE) May 26, 2021

Pitt got on the board first in the second inning. David Yanni and Riley Wash both walked. After a wild pitch advanced both of them, Yanni raced home and slide safely into home on an RBI-fielder's choice from Brock Franks.

The Panthers stretched their lead to three in the fifth inning. Sky Duff led off with a single to centerfield, and Kyle Hess doubled down the right field line with one out. A wild pitch allow Duff to score standing up, and Hess came home on a sac fly to left field Ron Washington, Jr.

The Tar Heels answered in the bottom of the inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, a single to centerfield plated two runs. Chase Smith came out of the bullpen and produced a groundout in which he raced over to first base receive a toss from second baseman David Yanni and tag the bag.

Pitt added two runs in the eighth inning. Hess led off with a walk, and Washington, Jr. hit a 406-foot homer to left field, his eighth of the year.

That's home run #??8?? of the year for @RWashingtonJr1??#H2P | #ACCBASE pic.twitter.com/DMv3ZlVHSj
— Pitt Baseball (@Pitt_BASE) May 26, 2021

In the bottom of the inning, North Carolina loaded the bases with one out. Jordan McCrum got a groundout to third baseman Duff that allowed one run to score, and then struck out the next batter looking.

The Tar Heels put a runner at second base with one out in the last frame. McCrum struck out a batter looking and got a foul out to Hess pass the left field line.

MOOD IN #GRITSBURGH!!!!!#H2P | #ACCBASE | @Jordan_McCrum pic.twitter.com/Hz3h1znqWX
— Pitt Baseball (@Pitt_BASE) May 26, 2021

NOTES

Mitch Myers (5-5) started and went 4.2 innings with two runs, six hits, two walks and five strikeouts.
McCrum picked up his sixth save of the season, allowing no hits and two walks with three strikeouts.
Smith threw 2.1 innings of scoreless relief with one hit, one walk and one strikeout.
Duff and Hess each reached base twice with a hit and walk.
Duff extended his hitting streak to 12 games and reached base streak to 20.
Yanni tied Sean Conley (2005-08) for the seventh-most career runs (144) in program history.
The Panthers remain perfect with a lead after six innings (19-0).
Pitt improves to 2-0 against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, having also defeating the No. 1 seed Tar Heels 5-4 on May 23, 2018 to advance to the semifinals.