Pitt's run in the ACC Tournament came to an end last night with a 3-2 setback to surging North Carolina State. The Panthers finish the event that is being held at Truist Field in Charlotte with a 1-1 record. North Carolina State advances out of Pool C and will take on Georgia Tech in the semifinals on Saturday.

The story of this game for both sides was pitching. Pitt starter Matt Gilbertson was brilliant in Thursday's game and he made it through all nine innings, but finished with a loss. The junior right-hander struck out a career-high 10 batters and allowed three runs on just four hits. He retired the final 22 batters he faced, including striking out the side in the ninth and tossed a total of 134 pitches in his gutsy performance.

Unfortunately for Pitt, North Carolina State starter Reid Johnson was equally as good. The junior went eight innings, fanned 10 batters, and allowed two runs on four hits. He set down Pitt's heart of the order 1-2-3 in the 8th for an exclamation point on his outing.

Pitt led off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk by David Yanni against hard-throwing closer Evan Justice, but the Panthers could not muster any late-game magic and the Wolfpack escaped with the victory.

Pitt came out of the gate early with a 1-0 lead as Ron Washington Jr. ripped a double down the line to bring home Sky Duff. Washington Jr. finished the day 1-for-4 and drove in both of Pitt's runs. Duff extended his hitting streak to 13 games, and he has now reached safely in 21 straight contests.

North Carolina State quickly answered with three runs in the top half of the second inning, but really that's all they could get going off of Gilbertson. The Panthers added a run in the bottom of the third on a fielder's choice, but like the Wolfpack they ran into a buzzsaw on the mound for the remainder of the game facing Johnson.

Pitt concludes the regular season with a 23-20 overall record and the team will now await to see its postseason fate on Monday when the NCAA Tournament selection show is scheduled. Recent bracket projections still had the Panthers in the field on Thursday morning, and the defeat to the WolfPack was hardly a bad loss either. Still, the Pitt team may be sweating it out on Monday.

Pitt had a promising start to the season and climbed to the top-15 of all the major polls, but a lengthy layoff due to COVID protocols seemed to have slowed the team's momentum. Since the break, Pitt has posted just a 3-9 record.