Pitt Clinches Series at Louisville with Relentless Offense in Rubber Match

Sunday, March 29

Louisville, KY

1 PM

Pitt

19-7, 5-4

Louisville

17-11, 4-5

Pittsburgh

Louisville

Pitt Clinches Series at Louisville with Relentless Offense in Rubber Match

3/29/2026 7:19:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

LOUISVILLE, KY – The Pitt Panthers (19-7, 5-4 ACC) clinched their series at Louisville (17-11, 4-5 ACC) with a 13-7 win on Sunday afternoon.

Pitt's offense was relentless in Sunday's rubber match, answering with runs any time the Cardinals scored.

The Panthers have now won each of their last two series, and six of their last eight games, over Louisville. It was Pitt's first series win at Louisville since 2007.

Pitt has won both of their road ACC series this season.

At the plate, the Panthers scored 13 runs on 14 hits, hit three home runs and worked 13 walks. Caden Dulin hit two home runs and went 4-5 with five RBIs. Carter Dierdorf went 3-5 with a home run, three RBI and three runs scored. AJ Nessler notched his 14^th multiple-hit game this season as he went 3-5 with two walks, an RBI and five runs scored. Those five runs scored are a career high and the most in a game by a Panther this season.

Drew Lafferty earned his fourth win of the year and gave the Panthers a quality start on the mound on Sunday, allowing no runs through the first four innings. He pitched into the sixth inning and struck out two while surrendering four runs. Eddie Smink earned his second three-inning save of the season as he shut the door on the Cardinals in Sunday's rubber match. Smink struck out three and allowed just one run on three hits in his three innings in relief.

Caden Dulin put the Panthers on the board first with a two-run home run in the top of the first inning. After AJ Nessler led off the game with a single, Dulin launched his fourth home run of the year to left center.

Dulin delivered for the Panthers again in the top of the second inning with a two-out, two-run single to center. A errant relay throw that landed in Pitt's dugout allowed Nessler to score from first and Dulin to advance to third on the play. The Panthers led 4-0 through the first two innings.

Pitt continued their scoring streak with another run in the top of the third inning. Joey Baran led off the inning with a single, moved up to second on a Sebastian Pisacreta walk and would score on Carter Dierdorf's RBI single to left field.

Drew Lafferty faced the minimum through the first three innings as the Panthers led 5-0 heading into the fourth.

The Panthers added three more runs in the top of the fifth inning, jumping out to an eight-run lead. AJ Nessler drove in Carter Dierdorf on an RBI single to right to make it 6-0. Caden Dulin hit his second two-run home run of the game to put Pitt up eight runs in the fifth.

Louisville responded with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fifth, and added one more run in the sixth, as the Panthers led 8-4 through six innings.

Caden Dulin notched his fourth hit of the day in the top of the seventh inning on a perfectly executed hit-and-run. Lorenzo Carrier worked his third walk of the weekend to load the bases for Trey Fenderson who drove in Nessler and Dulin on a two-run single to extend Pitt's lead to six.

The Cardinals got a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, but Eddie Smink was able to escape a bases-loaded jam and keep the deficit at four. The Panthers led 10-6 through seven innings.

Pitt extended their lead to seven with three more runs in the top of the eighth inning. Carter Dierdorf lifted a two-run homer to left center and AJ Nessler scored on a wild pitch to give Pitt a 13-6 lead.

Eddie Smink closed it out in the ninth and earned his second three-inning save of the season as Pitt clinched a series win at Louisville with a 13-7 victory on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

Pitt will host Mercyhurst this Tuesday at 3 PM before welcoming Wake Forest next weekend.