Pitt Hosts West Virginia at PNC Park for Backyard Ball

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball hosts the second Backyard Brawl against (RV) West Virginia of the season Wednesday at 1 p.m. at PNC Park. The game is first of two games at the Pirates' home ballpark this spring for the Panthers, with a Tuesday, May 19 matchup against another rival Penn State.

GAME PROMOTIONS

Pepsi student bus trip to PNC Park.

HOW TO FOLLOW

The game will be streamed on ACCNX.
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

TBA | TBA

HOME RUN HITTING SQUAD

The story of the Pitt offense so far this season has been its home run hitting ability.
With 57 in 34 games, the Panthers rank in the nation 17th in homers and 15th per game (1.68).
Additionally, Pitt is 18th in slugging percentage (.505) and 27th in on-base percentage (.402).
Tatem Levins has been the leader of that power-hitting squad, blasting 11 to place 40th in the nation.
Per game, Ron Washington, Jr. (.33) is 49th and Levins (.32) is 56th.
All nine of the batters in the current starting lineup have hit at least two with Washington, Jr. hitting nine, Brock Franks 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 seven 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 four in the last eight games (at Youngstown State, April 6, at Boston College, April 8 and at Kent State, April 12).

HOME SERIES WIN OVER NO. 5 VIRGINIA

Pitt won its fourth-straight ACC series and third in a row against a ranked team for the first team with two wins (9-4 Friday and 4-1 Sunday) over No. 5 Virginia.
Winners of 11 of the last 14 games, Pitt improves to 6-2 at home in ACC play, all against ranked teams (8-0 and 10-7 over then-No. 20 Clemson, March 25, 8-7 and 6-3 against then-No. 5 Louisville, April 2-3 and 9-4 over Virginia Friday).
Starting pitching was the key for Pitt as Matt Gilbertson won his fifth-straight start in the series-opener, throwing eight innings with eight hits, four runs, no walks and eight strikeouts.
Billy Corcoran recorded a win for the third time in a row in the finale, throwing seven innings with no earned runs, no walks, seven hits and four strikeouts.
Tommy Tavarez and Tatem Levins each hit a homer Friday and were the main catalyst of the offense for the weekend with three RBI each.
Tavarez went 4-8 with four walks, and Levins also racked up four hits with three walks.

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 six games and limited to a pinch-hit appearance twice due to an injury, he has the team-lead in slugging percentage (.674), is tied with Levins for the team-lead in extra-base hits (15), is second on the team in OPS (1.101) and has 25 RBI, a .315 batting average and four stolen bases.
In the nation he ranks 49th in homers per game (.33), 78th in homers and 82nd in slugging percentage.
In 92 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 hitters.
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 recorded a .316 batting average and .446 on-base percentage along with .984 OPS, .538 slugging percentage, 37 hits, 13 for extra-base, and 25 walks to just 14 strikeouts.
His power has seen an uptick with six homers, six doubles and a triple in 117 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 8.4 at-bats), compared to last year (55 in 157, average of one every 2.85 at-bats).

SCOUTING (RV) WEST VIRGINIA

Stand in third-place in the nine-team Big 12 Conference at 6-3 and is 22-12 overall.
Receiving votes in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches' Poll after defeating Penn State 8-4 last Tuesday and winning once at then-No. 2 Oklahoma State 5-2 Saturday.
After losing to Pitt March 30, the Mountaineers are 8-3 that includes a series-win at then-No. 10 TCU and a home sweep of Baylor.
Rank in the nation second in steals (115) as individually junior outfielder Victor Scott II ranks second (30), senior outfielder Austin Davis is 10th (23) and redshirt-junior infielder Tevin Tucker has 14 for 68th-place.
Sophomore catcher McGwire Holbrook has been the best hitter so far with team-bests of a .354 batting average and .981 OPS while Scott has the team-leads in extra-base hits (14) and walks (28).

ALL-TIME SERIES

West Virginia has the advantage 86-75.
The Mountaineers are the most faced opponent in program history.
The Panthers have the most recent win, defeating the Mountaineers 9-6 on March 30 at home.
The two teams split the series last year with Pitt winning 5-1 on April 6 in Pittsburgh and West Virginia taking the May 5 matchup in Morgantown 8-2.
This will be the second meeting between the two teams at PNC Park as West Virginia won the first matchup 9-4 on May 14, 2019.

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Pitt Hosts West Virginia at PNC Park for Backyard Ball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Billy Corcoran

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Matt Gilbertson

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Ron Washington, Jr.

Pitt Hosts West Virginia at PNC Park for Backyard Ball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Billy Corcoran

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Matt Gilbertson

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Ron Washington, Jr.

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