Pitt Opens Home Play with Bucknell and Youngstown State

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball opens home play at Charles L. Cost Field for the 2022 season with matchups against Bucknell Tuesday and Youngstown State Wednesday, both at 3 p.m.

GAME PROMOTIONS

Season ticket holders can pick up their gifts on opening day.
White Pitt baseball beads will be given out Wednesday.
Dollar hot dogs at every home game on Wednesdays.

HOW TO FOLLOW

Each game can be streamed on ACCNX through WatchESPN.
Fans can follow along with live stats and updates through Twitter. Follow @Pitt_BASE for the latest news and updates about the team.

STARTING PITCHERS

TUESDAY (vs. Bucknell): TBA | LHP Ben Magovern (0-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.17 WHIP)
WEDNESDAY (vs. Youngstown State): TBA | TBA

FACING HIS FORMER TEAM

Jeffrey Wehler comes to Pittsburgh after starting four years at Youngstown State.
Wehler technically has already faced his former school as Pitt defeated Youngstown State 22-7 on Oct. 22 in the fall.
He had a grand slam in the second inning of the game.
Wehler was named the 54th-best transfer by Baseball America and No. 55 by DIBaseball.com after being named First-Team All-Horizon League last year and second-team in 2019 and 2018.
He finished his Youngstown State career ranked second in school history with 88 career steals and led his team in stolen bases each year.
He swiped his first bag as a Panther in the series-finale against Canisius and got another one in the second one against Lipscomb, needing 10 more to reach 100 in his career.
Last season he had career-bests of a .332 batting average, .390 on-base percentage, .552 slugging percentage, 53 runs, 74 hits, 27 extra-base hits, eight homers, 38 RBIs and 20 walks.

ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK (MARCH 7)

Tatem Levins was named ACC Player of the Week in his performance at the All-American Classic.
Levins homered in all three games and posted nine RBI and a 1.231 slugging percentage.
He opened the tournament in Fayetteville, N.C. with a 2-4 performance at the plate with a solo homer and double against Army.
He had a two-run homer in the 6-5 comeback win over Ohio State.
In the 11-5 victory over Campbell, he saved his best performance last with a grand slam and two other hits, six RBI and two runs.
He was also named one of Collegiate Baseball's Players of the Week.
For the season, Levins has been an effective power hitter, with an active five-game streak with a home run.
In the five-game stretch before last weekend he registered a .545 batting average (12-22), 12 hits, 12 RBI, 28 total bases, a 1.273 slugging percentage and .545 on-base percentage.
In the nation he ranks 27th in homers (six), 38th in homers per game (.40), and 72nd in total bases (41).
In the ACC he ranks eighth in homers.

FRANKS THE HOME RUN HITTER

Brock Franks has also seen a power surge at the plate.
Only hitting one homer in his first 47 games as a Panther, Franks has hit five in the last 12 games, including his first multi-home run game of his collegiate career.
In a seven-game stretch, he registered 25 total bases, a 1.087 slugging percentage and 11 RBI.
In the nation he ranks 49th in homers and 81st in homers per game (.33).
In the ACC he ranks tied for ninth in homers.

THE DUFFMAN

Sky Duff had a breakout campaign in 2021, his third year in Pittsburgh, and earned spots on the All-ACC Third-Team and ABCA/Rawlings All-East Region Second Team.
Serving as the leadoff batter, Duff still has an active 36-game reached base streak started last year and currently ranks 42nd in the nation in walks (14).
This season he leads the team in walks and has a .327 batting average, 18 hits and eight RBI.
He recorded a nation-best nine walks and three hits on opening weekend.
Known for his ability to draw walks in his entire career, Duff has 97.
In the nation he ranked last year 14th in doubles per game (.43), 47th in doubles (18), 67th in hits per game (1.43), 83rd in batting average (.366) and 91st in on-base percentage (.461).
He was in the ACC fifth in batting average and fourth in on-base percentage and doubles.
The junior showed an improvement with his power, racking up a team-high 18 doubles.
He also hit two homers last year after recording his first career homer the previous season.

SCOUTING BUCKNELL

Opened the season 3-7 with just one game played last weekend at home, an 8-5 loss to Niagara, due to darkness and weather.
Defeated Duke 8-6 in a three-game weekend series in Durham, N.C. the previous weekend.
Picked fifth out of sixth in Patriot League Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Senior outfielder Chris Cannizzaro was selected the preseason player of the year coming off 2021 where he was the conference batting champion (.355) and also ranked third in total hits (44), first in doubles (12), and tied for first in triples (4).
Sophomore infielder Anthony Sherwin has been the best hitter 10 games into the season with a .933 OPS, seven doubles, eight walks and seven RBI.

SCOUTING YOUNGSTOWN STATE

Opened the season 5-10 and split a four-game series at New Orleans last weekend.
Picked fourth in the seven-team Horizon League Coaches' Preseason Poll after reaching the 30-win plateau for just the second time in program history (32-24 overall) and setting a program record for conference wins (24).
Returns 2021 Second-Team All-Horizon League honorees senior outfielder Dominick Bucko.
Junior infielder Braeden O'Shaughnessy has been the team's top hitter so far with a .321 batting average, two homers and two doubles and eight RBI.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Pitt has won two-thirds of the games against Bucknell (24-12) and has won an even higher share against Youngstown State at 36-10-1.
The Panthers and Bison have played just twice in the 21st century, a 17-9 Pitt victory in Pittsburgh last year and 8-2 Pitt win on Feb. 24, 2019 in Spartanburg, S.C. in the Wofford-USC Upstate Tournament.
Last year was the first time the Panthers and Penguins haven't played since 2008.
Pitt has a 20-5-1 all-time mark in games in Pittsburgh and have won 10 of 12 matchups at Cost Field.

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Pitt Opens Home Play with Bucknell and Youngstown State

Players Mentioned

Sky Duff

Brock Franks

Tatem Levins

Jeffrey Wehler

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