Pitt Hosts Kent State for Wednesday Matchup

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball resumes home play at Charles L. Cost Field against Kent State Wednesday at 3 p.m.

GAME PROMOTIONS

HOW TO FOLLOW

The 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

HOME RUN HITTING SQUAD

The story of the Pitt offense so far this season has been its home run hitting ability.
With 34 in 20 games, the Panthers rank in the nation 11th in homers and 13th per game (1.70).
Tatem Levins has been the leader of that power-hitting squad, blasting eight to place 16th in the nation.
Kyle Hess also places in the top-100 nationally at 63rd with six.
All nine of the batters in the current starting lineup have hit at least one with Brocks Franks registering five and Jack Anderson, Bryce Hulett and Ron Washington, Jr. each having four.
CJ Funk hit his first collegiate homer at Virginia Tech (Saturday, March 19).

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 (.388), hits (26) and on-base percentage (.494) and second in OPS (1.121) along with eight extra-base hits and 13 walks to just seven strikeouts.
His power has seen an uptick with four doubles and four homers in 67 at-bats (eight and three in 154 last season), and he's drawn more walks and cut down drastically on strikeouts (averaging one per 9.57 at-bats) compared to last year (55 in 157, average of one every 2.85 at-bats).

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 for 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 16th in the nation with eight homers that included a five-game home run streak (Lipscomb, Feb. 27-at High Point, March 9) and also a two-homer performance last 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 33rd in homers per game (.40), 47th in total bases (54) and 81st in slugging percentage (.720).
In the ACC he ranks tied for fifth 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 41-game reached base streak started last year and currently ranks 31st in the nation in walks (18).
This season he leads the team in walks and has a .457 on-base percentage, 22 hits and nine 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, he ranks fifth in program history with 101.
Former teammate David Yanni (148, 2016-21), John Schultz (142, 2008-11), Jacob Wright (116, 2015-17), and Jim Negrych (107, 2004-06) all could be passed by Duff this or next season.
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.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Kent State has the advantage 42-27.
The series is about split for games in Pittsburgh (12-11, Golden Flashes).
Despite playing each other 31 times since 2001, the two programs haven't played each other since April 17, 2019 due to the pandemic.

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