Pitt Heads to Virginia Tech for ACC Weekend Series

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball resumes ACC play with a weekend series at Virginia Tech Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.

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

FRIDAY: RHP Matt Gilbertson (1-2, 3.80 ERA, 1.55 WHIP) | RHP Griffin Green (2-1, 3.93 ERA, 1.20 WHIP)
SATURDAY: RHP Logan Evans (2-0, 2.49 ERA, .91 WHIP) | RHP Drue Hackenberg (3-0, 1.96 ERA, 1.13 WHIP)
SUNDAY: RHP Billy Corcoran (2-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) | TBA

BREAKOUT SEASON FOR HULETT

Bryce Hulett has enjoyed a tremendous start to the season as the Panthers' top hitter.
Known for his tremendous glove at first base since he started his career in Pittsburgh in 2020, Hulett has excelled at the plate so far this spring.
He has the team-lead for batting average (.404), on-base percentage (.507) and OPS (1.139) along with 23 hits, seven extra-base hits and 12 walks to just six strikeouts.
His power has seen an uptick with four doubles and three homers in 57 at-bats (eight and three in 154 last season), and he's drawn more walks and cut down drastically on strikeouts (six total, averaging one per 9.5 at-bats) compared to last year (55 in 157, average of one every 2.85 at-bats).

HOME RUN EXPLOSION (PART TWO) AGAINST BUCKNELL

In its 2021 home-opening 21-5 win over Bucknell Tuesday, Pitt scored the most runs in its 12 years at Charles L. Cost Field and also set Cost Field records for homers (six) and total bases (40).
The Panthers hit six homers for the first since doing so against Grambling State in an 18-5 win on Feb. 28, 2016.
Both Jack Anderson and Tatem Levins had their first multi-home run games of their collegiate career.
Kyle Hess recorded the first leadoff homer to start a game since Connor Perry's at Virginia on March 22, 2019 and later in the opening frame had a triple with the bases loaded.
Ron Washington, Jr. also had a solo homer with one out in the third inning.
Anderson finished with six RBI while Levins and Hess had four.
Pitt also finished with 12 walks, the most since recording 15 in a 7-2 win over Villanova on Feb. 15, 2019.

ACC PLAYER OF THE WEEK (MARCH 7)

Tatem Levins was named ACC Player of the Week March 7 for 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, ranking eighth in the nation with eight homers with eight that included a five-game home run streak (Lipscomb, Feb. 27-at High Point, March 9) and also a two-homer performance Tuesday in the 21-5 win over Bucknell.
In the five-game stretch with a homer 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 14th in homers per game (.47), 25th in total bases (50), 46th in RBI (21), 54th in slugging percentage (.769) and 73rd in RBI per game (1.24)
In the ACC he ranks tied for fourth in homers and tied for seventh in RBI.

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 64th in homers.
In the ACC he ranks tied for 10th in homers.

FACED HIS FORMER TEAM

Jeffrey Wehler faced his former team Youngstown State Wednesday.
Wehler arrived in Pittsburgh after starting four years at Youngstown State.
He technically 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 has gotten two more, needing nine 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.
This year as the starting second baseman and batting primarily in the No. 2 batting spot in the lineup, Wehler has excelled with a .938 OPS, a team-high six doubles, seven RBI and seven walks.

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 38-game reached base streak started last year and currently ranks 26th in the nation in walks (16).
This season he leads the team in walks and has a .451 on-base percentage, 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 99.
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.

GILL ON THE HILL

Matt Gilbertson was the Panthers' "Saturday" pitcher all of last season and starts as the No. 1 pitcher this year.
With starts in the second game of each weekend series in 2021, Gilbertson posted a 6-4 record with a 1.29 WHIP, 4.45 ERA, 72 strikeouts to 20 walks and a .269 opposing batting average.
In the ACC, he ranked tied seventh in innings pitched (85.0) and ninth in wins (six), both team-highs.
Gilbertson earned the first win of the season with just one earned run, four hits and no walks with three strikeouts against Indiana State on Feb. 20.
His next start was arguably his best of the season, six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, two walks and five hits in a 7-2 win at No. 9 Florida State.
He went a career-high eight innings that included 16-straight retired batters with five strikeouts, two runs, five hits and no walks in a 6-2 series-clinching win at Virginia.
He went seven innings again with four strikeouts, one run, one hit and nine hits allowed in what ended up a 3-1 win over No. 12 Notre Dame.
He picked up his fourth win against No. 15 Miami, going seven innings with four runs, six hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
He threw all but one inning in the home win over Boston College with three strikeouts, eight hits and three walks.
He arguably saved his best for last when he threw a complete game against No. 3 seed NC State with 10 strikeouts and 22 outs in the last 22 batters faced.
In 21 career starts at Pitt, Gilbertson has accumulated 112 strikeouts to just 34 walks and gone at least five innings in all but two games.

SCOUTING VIRGINIA TECH

Lost four-straight with a 5-2 loss at James Madison and were swept at No. 13 Georgia Tech with two one-run losses (9-8 Friday and 7-6 in 13 innings Sunday).
Opened the season strong with a 10-1 record.
Feature an explosive offense, ranking in the nation second in slugging percentage (.590), fourth in homers per game (2.07) and fifth in doubles per game (2.67) with six starters with an OPS over 1.000 and also are third in fielding percentage (.989).
Eduardo Malinowski ranks third in the nation in homers (nine) and tied for 25th in total bases (50) with Jack Hurley, who has the ninth-best batting average (.474) in the nation.
Preseason All-American sophomore outfielder Gavin Cross is fifth in the nation in triples (three) and has a team-high 11 extra-base hits.

ALL-TIME SERIES

The series is tied at 20-20.
Pitt has had the edge in games in Blacksburg, Va. at 8-6.
The last series at the Hokies was from March 9-11, 2018, a Virginia Tech series win.
The Hokies swept the Panthers last year in Pittsburgh.

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Pitt Heads to Virginia Tech for ACC Weekend Series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Billy Corcoran

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

Matt Gilbertson

Kyle Hess

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Jeffrey Wehler

Pitt Heads to Virginia Tech for ACC Weekend Series

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Billy Corcoran

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

Matt Gilbertson

Kyle Hess

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Jeffrey Wehler

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