Pitt To Face Army, Ohio State and Campbell in All-American Classic

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball heads to Segra Stadium in Fayetteville, N.C. for the All-American Classic with matchups against Army (Friday at 3 p.m.), Ohio State (Saturday at 1 p.m.) and Campbell (Sunday at 3 p.m.). The Fayetteville Woodpeckers, the single-A affiliate of the Houston Astros, are the hosts of the tournament.

HOW TO FOLLOW

There will not be a live stream available for all three games.
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 (vs. Army): RHP Matt Gilbertson (1-1, 3.00 ERA, 1.56 WHIP) | RHP Patrick Melampy (0-0, 2.70 ERA, .90 WHIP)
SATURDAY (vs. Ohio State): RHP Logan Evans (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.64 WHIP) | RHP Nate Haberthier (0-1, 9.95 ERA, 2.05 WHIP)
SUNDAY (vs. Campbell): RHP Billy Corcoran (1-1, 3.75 ERA, 1.00 WHIP) | RHP Aaron Rund (0-0, 2.79 ERA, 1.14 WHIP)

LAST TIME OUT-WINNING THE MUSIC CITY COLLEGE CLASSIC

Pitt won three of four games in the tournament hosted by Lipscomb with a two-game sweep of the host Bisons (16-0 in seven innings Saturday and 6-5 Sunday) and a split against Bradley (3-2 win and 6-5 loss).
The Panthers clinched the top record in Nashville with a comeback victory in the finale against Lipscomb, with Jeffrey Wehler scoring in the eighth inning on a wild pitch and Bryce Hulett hitting the game-winning leadoff homer in the next inning.
As one of four pitchers in the nation to throw at least 14 innings and not allow a run, Logan Evans pitched his second-straight seven-inning shutout with six strikeouts and only three hits and one walk allowed.
Matt Gilbertson earned his first win of the year in the opening win against the Braves, going five innings with no earned runs, three hits, three walks and four strikeouts.
The Panthers hit seven homers on the weekend, highlighted by a pair from Brock Franks and Kyle Hess.

A LOOK BACK AT HISTORIC 2021 SEASON

Last year, Pitt to its most successful season in the ACC.
The Panthers set program records for their highest ranking in the polls, No. 14 by Baseball America, consecutive weeks in the polls (nine), RPI (50), and strength of schedule (30). In ACC play, Pitt set program-bests in ACC series wins (six) and ACC victories (16).
Pitt went 18-12 against teams that made the NCAA Regionals, tied for the second-best record in the nation. The Panthers won 17 times against Quad-one schools.
They're just the second team to sweep Florida State and Miami in the same season.
Pitt narrowly missed out on its first at-large bid to NCAA Regionals, as they were the second team left out (behind Baylor) by the selection committee.
With Bell serving as the pitching coach since last season, Mitch Myers became the highest drafted Panther since 2018.
The junior right-hander was selected in the 12th round of the MLB draft with the No. 368 pick by the Oakland Athletics.
Myers was one of a program-best four Panthers selected to the All-ACC Third Team: Sky Duff, Nico Popa, and David Yanni. Duff earned a selected to the ABCA/Rawlings All-East Region Second Team.
The third baseman had a breakout campaign in his third year in Pittsburgh and enters 2022 with 21-game reached base and 13-game hitting streaks.
A member of the 2019 second-team, Popa is the first Panther to earn All-ACC honors twice. The all-time leader in program history in games played, starts and walks, Yanni had his best season as a Panthers in 2021.

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 29-game reached base streak and currently ranks fifth in the nation in walks (11).
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 94.
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-two 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 19 career starts at Pitt, Gilbertson has accumulated 105 strikeouts to just 29 walks and gone at least five innings in all but two games.

CHASING THE CENTURY MARK FOR STOLEN BASES

Jeffrey Wehler comes to Pittsburgh after starting four years at Youngstown State.
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.

SCOUTING ARMY

Opened the season 1-5 with an 8-0 win against Richmond and losses to Air Force (4-3) and Ball State (10-6) on opening weekend and a sweep at No. 4 Vanderbilt (7-2, 10-7 and 6-0).
Making the last three NCAA Regionals as the Patriot League Champions, the Black Knights were picked to repeat as conference champions in the coaches' preseason poll.
Five players were selected to the All-Patriot League Preseason Team: senior right-handed pitcher Anthony LoRicco, sophomore left-handed pitcher Connelly Early, shortstop Kevin Dubrule, junior third baseman Sam Ruta and senior outfielder Nick Manesis.
Ruta (1.020 OPS) has been the top batter for Army with team-bests two triples and five walks along with a homer.

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

Standing at 3-5, the Buckeyes won their first three games against Marshall (15-4) and Indiana State (9-3 and 9-8) but have dropped five-straight with a 5-4 loss at Cincinnati Wednesday, swept at Texas State (9-1, 8-5 and 6-4) and a 9-6 defeat to BYU to close out the Snowbird Classic.
Picked to finish fifth in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches' Poll with seven positional starters and 21 letterwinners from last year's team that went 22-20 in a Big Ten only schedule.
Senior right-hander TJ Brock was selected a NCBWA Preseason Third Team All-American after a 2021 season in which he earned Third-Team All-Big Ten honors with nine saves, 2.08 ERA in 21.2 innings, 33 strikeouts and just 16 walks.
The Buckeyes' batting have been so far anchored by power hitters senior infielder Zach Dezenzo (three homers, eight RBI and .667 slugging percentage) and senior infielder Drew Reckart (three homers and .640 slugging percentage).

SCOUTING CAMPBELL

Playing every game at home so far, the Camels bounced back from a six-game losing streak with a 7-4 win over NC State Wednesday and a 3-2 victory against Air Force Monday.
Picked to win the Big South Conference in the preseason coaches' poll after going 37-18, winning the Big South regular season title for the third-straight time and earning its first at-large bid to the NCAA Regionals last year.
Have made it to regionals the last three times the NCAA Tournament has been held as conference tournament champions in 2019 and 2018.
The reigning Big South Player of the year, redshirt-sophomore right-hander pitcher/infielder Zach Neto was placed on the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Army has won five of the eight matchups against Pitt with three coming in the 1940's and two in 1982, and the Panthers took a pair of wins (4-1 and 7-0) on March 12, 2011 in a doubleheader in the last matchup between the two schools.
Ohio State has a 21-2 advantage in the series against Pitt and won 4-1 in the Snowbird Classic Feb. 15, 2020 in the only matchup of the Mike Bell era at Pitt.
This will be the first matchup against Campbell.

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Pitt To Face Army, Ohio State and Campbell in All-American Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Billy Corcoran

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

Matt Gilbertson

Kyle Hess

Bryce Hulett

Mitch Myers

Nico Popa

Jeffrey Wehler

David Yanni

Pitt To Face Army, Ohio State and Campbell in All-American Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Billy Corcoran

Sky Duff

Logan Evans

Brock Franks

Matt Gilbertson

Kyle Hess

Bryce Hulett

Mitch Myers

Nico Popa

Jeffrey Wehler

David Yanni

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