Pitt Hosts Oakland for a Wednesday Contest

PITTSBURGH – Pitt baseball hosts Oakland for a Wednesday matchup at 3 p.m. Originally, the teams were supposed to play as well Tuesday, but the game was cancelled due to anticipated inclement weather.

GAME PROMOTIONS

Star Wars Day: celebrate May the 4th with a kids costume contest with the winners taking home Pitt Baseball prizes!
Dollar hot dogs.

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

RPI TALK

With the Panthers' improved play and strong wins in April, they find themselves in the top portion of the RPI rankings.
Pitt currently stands at No. 54 (.5597) with a strength of schedule at 45 (.5462).
With its strong slate of opponents, Pitt is 9-10 against quadrant one teams (squads ranked 1-50) and 1-0 against quadrant two teams (squads ranked 50-100).
- Two wins against No. 15 Virginia, No. 31 Clemson and No. 39 Louisville.
- One win versus No. 9 Miami, No. 19 Virginia Tech, No. 38 West Virginia and No. 69 Campbell.
The ACC is the second-highest rated league in the country.
Pitt has a strong slate of opponents to solidify its RPI and postseason aspirations with seven games left against quad one squads (No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 17 Georgia Tech and No. 42 West Virginia) and a quad two opponent (No. 110 Duke).

HOME RUN HITTING SQUAD

The story of the Pitt offense so far this season has been its home run hitting ability.
With 64 in 41 games, the Panthers rank in the nation 29th in homers and 24th per game (1.56).
Additionally, Pitt is 42nd in slugging percentage (.485) and 36th in on-base percentage (.400).
Tatem Levins has been the leader of that power-hitting squad, blasting 13 to place 52nd in the nation.
Per game, Ron Washington, Jr. (.33) is 38th and Levins (.32) is 64th.
All nine of the batters in the current starting lineup have hit at least two with Washington, Jr. hitting 11, Brock Franks registering eight, Bryce Hulett hitting seven and Jack Anderson with six.
CJ Funk hit his first collegiate homer at Virginia Tech (Saturday, March 19) and has hit three in his last 10 games (two against No. 5 Louisville, April 2 and 3, and at Boston College, April 9).
Filling in the infield due to multiple injuries, freshman Tommy Tavarez has hit four in the last 15 games (at Youngstown State, April 6, at Boston College, April 8, at Kent State, April 12 and against No. 5 Virginia, April 15).

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 eight games and limited to a pinch-hit appearance twice due to an injury, he leads the team in extra-base hits (20), slugging percentage (.669) and OPS (1.086) and is second in RBI (31) and batting average (.314) along with four stolen bases.
In the nation he ranks 38th in homers per game (.33).
In 118 at-bats, he has already established a season-best 11 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).
He continues to etch his name in the record book, ranking in program history fifth in total bases (346), tied for sixth in homers (31) and doubles (46), tied for seventh in RBI (133), 12th in at-bats (699), tied for 12th in games started (180), 14th in games played (185) and hits (203) and 17th in walks (80).

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 .298 batting average and .443 on-base percentage along with .961 OPS, .518 slugging percentage, 42 hits, 16 for extra-base, and 33 walks to just 20 strikeouts.
His power has seen an uptick with seven homers, eight doubles and a triple in 141 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 7.1 at-bats, compared to last year's 55 in 157, average of one every 2.85 at-bats).

SLUGGING TATEM

For the season, Levins has been an effective power hitter, ranking 52nd in the nation with 13 homers that included a five-game home run streak (Lipscomb, Feb. 27-at High Point, March 9) and a pair of two-homer performances in the 9-4 win at No. 4 Miami (April 24) and the 21-5 win over Bucknell (March 15).
Overall this season, he has boasted a 1.049 OPS, a team-leading 42 RBI and 19 extra-base hits.
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.
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.

SCOUTING OAKLAND

Stands in third place in the seven-team Big South Conference at 11-8 and is 21-21 overall.
Have won its last two series, taking two of three at home against Milwaukee (17-8 and 9-3) this weekend and sweeping a doubleheader at Purdue Fort Wayne (8-6, seven innings, and 9-7) last Sunday.
Rank in the nation 13th in stolen bases (88), 33rd in sacrifice flies (23), 64th in walks (208) and 97th in sacrifice bunts (97).
Senior infielder Gabe Lux ranks in the nation 12th in walks per game (0.97), and in steals, graduate student infielder Bradley Goulet is 41st (20) and graduate student outfielder/right-handed pitcher Seth Tucker is 75th (17).

ALL-TIME SERIES

Pitt has won three out of four matchups against Oakland.
Pitt enters this contest with a three-game win streak against Oakland, in which they outscored the Golden Grizzlies 18-4.
This will be the first meeting between the teams since February 18, 2018 and their first ever meeting at Cost Field.

#H2P | Twitter | Instagram

Pitt Hosts Oakland for a Wednesday Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Ron Washington, Jr.

Pitt Hosts Oakland for a Wednesday Contest

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jack Anderson

Brock Franks

C.J. Funk

Bryce Hulett

Tatem Levins

Tommy Tavarez

Ron Washington, Jr.

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