Panthers Open ACC Play at Florida State

Friday, March 10

Tallahassee, FL

7:02 PM

Pitt

Florida State

Panthers Open ACC Play at Florida State

3/9/2023 4:14:00 PM | Baseball

Game Notes (PDF)

1. PANTHERS OPEN ACC PLAY AT FLORIDA STATE
The Pitt baseball team (7-5, 0-0 ACC) begins its 10th season of Atlantic Coast Conference play as it visits No. 21-ranked Florida State (9-3, 0-0 ACC) this weekend (March 10-12) at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla.

The series opens Friday (March 10) with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Saturday (March 11) is set for a 3 p.m. start. The Sunday (March 12) series finale is scheduled for 1 p.m. All three games will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

Pitt at Florida State | Friday, March 10 | 6 p.m. | Dick Howser Stadium | Tallahassee, Fla.
ACC Network Extra | StatBroadcast
Pitching Matchup: Pitt Jr. RHP #43 Jack Sokol (2-0, 7.50 ERA) vs. Florida State So. RHP #17 Jackson Baumeister (1-1, 3.00 ERA)

Pitt at Florida State | Saturday, March 11 | 3 p.m. | Dick Howser Stadium | Tallahassee, Fla.
ACC Network Extra | StatBroadcast
Pitching Matchup: Pitt TBA vs. Florida State Jr. LHP #5 Wyatt Crowell (2-0, 1.23 ERA)

Pitt at Florida State | Sunday, March 12 | 1 p.m. | Dick Howser Stadium | Tallahassee, Fla..
ACC Network Extra | StatBroadcast
Pitching Matchup: Pitt TBA vs. Florida State Jr. RHP #21 Carson Montgomery (0-0, 7.15 ERA)

2. TALLAHASSEE PIPELINE
The Panthers have several connections to Florida State, starting with head coach Mike Bell. Bell joined Pitt in July of 2018 after a seven-year stint as the associate head coach and pitching coach at Florida State. The Seminoles posted a 314-136-0 record in his tenure, reaching a Super Regional on three occasions and advancing to the College World Series twice (2012, '17). A left-handed pitcher and first baseman for the Seminoles, Bell reached the College World Series as a player at Florida State in both 1994 and '95. Bell posted a two-year record of 14-4 with a 3.00 ERA and was twice named to the ACC Academic Honor Roll. He earned a bachelor's degree in physical education at Florida State in 1996.

Drew Linder, Pitt's director of player development, was a four-year member of the Florida State baseball program, serving as the bullpen coordinator and assisting with the Seminoles' pitching staff. He was a member of three ACC Champion Seminoles squads and also worked with the program's baseball operations and camp efforts. Austin Thompson, the program's director of operations, graduated from Florida State with two bachelor degrees, Science in Business Administration and Management and Science in Sports Management. During his time in Tallahassee, Thompson worked with Bell and the Florida State baseball team as a student manager from 2014-18. Finally,

Dylan Simmons, a junior right-handed pitcher, played in 60 games over three years at Florida State, hitting .278 with 30 hits, including eight doubles, to go along with 16 RBI. He also pitched 18.2 innings, striking out 19.

3. WALK THIS WAY
Pitt ranks ninth in the country with 91 walks on the season. CJ Funk is fifth in the country with 17 free passes while Noah Martinez is eighth with 16. Dom Popahas drawn 13 walks, ranking him 41st in the nation.

PANTHERS FALL AT SOUTH FLORIDA
Holden Phelps put together a strong start on the mound, but Pitt ultimately fell to South Florida, 2-1, on Tuesday night at the USF Baseball Stadium.

In his second start as a Panther, Phelps struck out a season-high seven over 5.2 innings of work. He retired the first 14 batters he faced and 16 of the first 17 before running into a jam in the bottom of the sixth inning. He gave way to Quin Konuszewski, who got a strikeout to end the inning. Matthew Fernandez then gave Pitt two scoreless innings of relief, permitting just one hit and one walk.

Noah Martinez homered to right center for his team leading sixth round tripper of the year in the top of the first for Pitt's lone run of the game.

IMPACT TRANSFER
A transfer from Central Connecticut State, Noah Martinez has made an impact through 13 games with the Panthers this season.

Martinez is slugging a team-best .761 with a team-best .484 on base percentage while ranking second with a .326 batting average. His six home runs, 22 RBI and 35 total bases lead the team. Martinez is riding a team-high eight-game hitting streak into this weekend's series at Florida State and is tied with Jack Anderson for the longest reached base streak on the team with 13. His six multi-RBI games are tied for the team lead.

OFF TO A GOOD START
Freshman AJ Nessler is off to a solid start to his collegiate career. Nessler ranks third on the team in batting average (.313) and second in RBI (16), is tied for second with Sky Duff with 15 hits and ranks third in slugging percentage (.500). He also leads the team with a pair of triples. His six multi-RBI games are tied for the team lead with Noah Martinez.

HIT PARADE
Jack Anderson leads Pitt with 19 hits and a .365 batting average on the year. His .476 on base percentage is good for second on the squad. He is tied with Noah Martinez for the current longest reached base streak on the team with 13 and is tied with Sky Duff and Tommy Tavarez for the most multi-hit games with five.

WE'VE GOT THE FUNK
CJ Funk has displayed both power and patience at the plate so far this season. His four home runs are good for second on the team behind Noah Martinez and his .609 slugging percentage also ranks second. He has coaxed a team-high 17 walks, which is good for fifth in the country, and his .469 on base percentage ranks third on the team.

SCOUTING FLORIDA STATE
Pitt is 5-26 all-time against Florida State, including a 4-24 mark in games played against the Seminoles in Tallahassee. However, Pitt's last series against Florida State was a three-game sweep for the Panthers at Dick Howser Stadium in 2021, with victories of 1-0, 7-2 and 9-7 (13 innings). Pitt has won four of its last six games played in Tallahassee.

Florida State is led by first-year head coach Link Jarrett, a 1994 FSU graduate who was named the 10th head coach in program history in June of 2022. Jarrett was a two-time National Coach of the Year at Notre Dame and led the Fighting Irish to the 2022 College World Series.

The Seminoles are off to a 9-3 start to the year and are currently ranked in three of the five major college baseball polls (21st, D1Baseball; 22nd USA Today Coaches; 25th NCBWA). Florida State dropped two of three at home to Florida Gulf Coast last weekend (L, 10-8; L, 11-10; W, 14-8) before defeating Bethune-Cookman on Tuesday, 10-1.

Florida State enters the weekend ranked 15th in the country in team batting average (.327) and 32nd in slugging percentage (.540).

Colton Vincent (.439) and Jordan Carrion (.404) are both hitting above .400 to pace Florida State's bats. Carrion leads the Seminoles with 19 hits while ranking second with 15 RBI. James Tibbs III is hitting .370 with a team-best .761 slugging percentage and .500 on base percentage. He's hit four home runs to match Cam Smith for the team lead while drawing a team-high 11 walks. His 16 RBI also lead the squad.

On the mound, Wyatt Crowell owns a team-best 1.23 ERA and has struck out a team-high 23 against seven walks over 14.2 innings. Jackson Baumeister is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and has fanned 17 in 12 innings and three starts. Conner Whittaker is 2-0 with 16 strikeouts while permitting just three walks in four appearances and a team-high 15.2 innings.

UP NEXT
Pitt begins an eight-game homestand with a midweek matchup against Youngstown State next Wednesday (March 15) at Charles Cost Field. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. The contest will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.

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