Pitt Heads to Kent State for Tuesday Game

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball returns to action Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Kent State. This is the first matchup against the Golden Flashes this spring, as two dates for games in Pittsburgh scheduled against the Ohio school have been postponed (Wednesday, March 23 and Tuesday, April 5).

HOW TO FOLLOW

The game will be streamed.
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

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HOME RUN HITTING SQUAD

The story of the Pitt offense so far this season has been its home run hitting ability.
With 54 in 30 games, the Panthers rank in the nation 11th in homers and eighth per game (1.80).
Additionally, Pitt is 15th in slugging percentage (.519) and 30th in on-base percentage (.402).
Tatem Levins has been the leader of that power-hitting squad, blasting 10 to place 40th in the nation.
Ron Washington, Jr. (nine) is 71st.
Per game, Washington, Jr. (.36) is 39th, Levins (.33) is 52nd and Hess is 90th (.30).
All nine of the batters in the current starting lineup have hit at least two with Brock Franks and Washington, Jr. both registering seven, Bryce Hulett hitting six and Jack Anderson with five.
CJ Funk hit his first collegiate homer at Virginia Tech (Saturday, March 19) and has hit three in the last six games (two against No. 5 Louisville, April 2 and 3, and at Boston College, April 9).
Filling in at shortstop for an injured Franks, freshman Tommy Tavarez has hit two in the last four games (at Youngstown State, April 6, and at Boston College, April 8).

BREAKOUT SEASON FOR WASHINGTON, JR.

Ron Washington, Jr. has saved his best season for last in his five-year career at Pitt.
Already an established bat in the ACC his entire career as an all-freshman selection in 2018, he has taken his game, especially the power numbers, to another level this spring.
Despite missing five games and limited to a pinch-hit appearance due to an injury, he has the team-lead for OPS (1.110) and slugging percentage (.685), is tied with Levins for the team-lead in extra-base hits (15) and has 24 RBI, a .315 batting average and four stolen bases.
In the nation he ranks 39th in homers per game (.36), 71st in homers and 80th in slugging percentage.
In 89 at-bats, he has already established a season-best nine homers (eight last year) and four steals (two in 2021 and 2018).
Entering this year, he posted a season-best of a .480 slugging percentage last year (not counting a .492 total in the shortened 2020 season).

BREAKOUT SEASON FOR HULETT

Bryce Hulett has enjoyed a tremendous start to the season as one of 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 (.340) and on-base percentage (.466) along with 1.058 OPS, .592 slugging percentage, 37 hits, 13 for extra-base, and 23 walks to just 13 strikeouts.
His power has seen an uptick with six homers, six doubles and a triple in 103 at-bats (eight, three and zero in 154 last season), and he's drawn more walks and cut down drastically on strikeouts (averaging one per 7.9 at-bats), compared to last year (55 in 157, average of one every 2.85 at-bats).

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 for most of the season, Duff has an active 51-game reached base streak started last year and currently ranks 64th in the nation in walks (25).
This season he leads the team in walks and has a .437 on-base percentage, 34 hits and 15 RBI.
He recorded a nation-best nine walks and three hits also on opening weekend.
Known for his ability to draw walks in his entire career, he ranks fourth in program history with 108.
Former teammate David Yanni (148, 2016-21), John Schultz (142, 2008-11) and Jacob Wright (116, 2015-17) 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 each of the last two years after recording his first career homer the previous season.

SCOUTING KENT STATE

Stand in fourth on the 11-team MAC place at 7-7 and are 12-14 overall.
Won two its last two games 4-3 and 5-4 (10 innings) to split a four-game weekend series with Bowling Green.
Rank in the nation 14th in fielding percentage (.980) and 48th in batting average (.292) and homers per game (1.31).
Senior outfielder/right-handed pitcher Justin Kirby (.985) and sophomore infielder Kyle Jackson (.982 OPS) have been the top two-batters, with Kirby slugging a team-best seven homers and 21 RBI and Jackson batting .69 with four homers and four doubles.

ALL-TIME SERIES

Kent State has the edge at 42-27.
The Golden Flashes have earned the advantage by going 21-4 at home against the Panthers.
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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Pitt Heads to Kent State for Tuesday Game

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Sky Duff

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

David Yanni

Pitt Heads to Kent State for Tuesday Game

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Sky Duff

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

David Yanni

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