The last time Mac Stout lost, the Pitt football team still had hopes for a nine-win season and the Steelers were 8-3.

The redshirt sophomore 197-pounder won his 17th consecutive bout on Friday night in the Panthers’ 28-9 loss at Virginia Tech. Stout scored two takedowns in the third period for a 7-3 victory over Andy Smith.

“He just keeps getting better,” Pitt coach Keith Gavin said of Stout. “I think he’s making good in-match adjustments. That’s something he’s doing this year that maybe he wasn’t doing last year. I think Friday was a good example of that: No takedowns until the third period and then he got two.”

Stout started the season 3-2, with a sudden-victory loss to Illinois’ Zach Braunagle at the Journeyman Classic and a 9-2 loss to Lehigh’s Michael Beard on Nov. 24. Since then, Stout has been dominant, outscoring his opponents 207-61, and he has scored bonus points in 11 of his 17 victories.

Despite his winning streak, Stout is only ranked 10th nationally. The wrestlers ahead of him keep winning as well. Top-ranked Stephen Buchanan of Iowa is 17-0 and Cal-State Bakersfield’s A.J. Ferrari, who beat Pitt’s Nino Bonaccorsi for the 2021 NCAA title, is 12-0. The next four wrestlers in the rankings have one loss apiece.

A year ago, Stout went 22-8, including 2-2 at the NCAA tournament.

What will it take for him to get on the podium in Philadelphia?

“I think he just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” Gavin said. “He’s improving rapidly throughout the year. He needs to keep focusing on the little things, even if he’s not getting what he wants right away. Some guys are so used to scoring, they get a little flustered when it doesn’t come right away.”

A two-time PIAA medalist from Mount Lebanon, Stout comes from a strong wrestling background. His father, Bryan, was a four-time NCAA All-American at Clarion, and his brothers Kellan and Luke each qualified for the NCAA tournament.

And while that pedigree certainly helps, Gavin said Mac Stout – who was not available for an interview on Sunday – doesn’t walk in anyone’s shadow.

“He’s a mature kid,” Gavin said. “He’s his own person. He really thinks for himself. In a sport like ours, that really helps. He kind of marches to the beat of his own drum. He’s fun to be around because of that.”

His mental approach also impresses Gavin.

“He’s a pretty funny kid,” Gavin said. “He’s in his own world. Nothing gets to Mac. That’s a great trait to have.”

In addition to his wrestling lineage, Mac Stout was able to practice with Bonaccorsi, who went on to win the 2023 NCAA title at 197, during his redshirt season. Like Bonaccorsi, Stout has an attacking style from neutral and fires off more shots than most wrestlers at his weight.

“I don’t know if it had anything to do with the way he wrestles, but it was good timing,” Gavin said of the year spent as Bonaccorsi’s practice partner. “His freshman year was the year that Nino won the nationals. Getting hands on him and seeing how Nino approached it, I think that – maybe more than the style of wrestling – has helped him.”

Stout also showcased his defensive abilities against Smith. The Hokie got off several nice shots, but Stout was able to fight them off with relative ease, including one that led to a takedown of his own.

“That was nice to see,” Gavin said. “You’re going to need that (defense) at the highest levels. That kid was a round-of-12 guy last year. That was a good example of that.”

Friday’s highlights

In addition to Stout’s victory, the Panthers got wins from Dylan Evans and Jared Keslar in Blacksburg.

Evans, who is ranked 22nd at 157, beat No. 10 Rafael Hipolito Jr. 4-1 in sudden victory. Hipolito is a two-time age-level world champion in jiu-jitsu. Wary of his ability to counter, Evans wasn’t able to create much offense until the overtime period, when he nicely finished a single-leg takedown.

“That kid has a good double leg from space,” Gavin said of Hipolito, “so he tries to create space and shoot from the open. If you run in, he’s going to pop into it. Dylan did a good job of getting his head in the way. We feel like if he can get his hands locked, he can score.”

Keslar beat Mac Church, a two-time PIAA champion from Waynesburg, 5-1 at 165 pounds.

“Those two are familiar with each other, being Young Guns kids,” Gavin said. “I don’t know how much they’ve wrestled before because Church was smaller. Jared kind of knew what to expect. He’s been wrestling better. He’s doing the little things, controlling the center of the mat. That’s nice to see.”

At 149, Finn Solomon pushed national champion Caleb Henson to overtime before falling 4-1 in the sudden-victory period.

“It was a really good fight out of him,” Gavin said of Solomon. “Similar to Dylan, we’ve got to find a way to get his hands locked. He’s got to bring that level of intensity and fight to everybody he wrestles. He wrestled that kid close before, too. I think he felt pretty good about not getting scored on. He just has to find a way to score.”

Injury updates

Gavin confirmed that Vinnie Santaniello will miss the remainder of the season. After taking a medical redshirt in 2023-24, Santaniello went 15-14 last season as the starter at 133. The state champion from New Jersey was 2-4 this season before suffering a knee injury at the Rider Quad Meet on Dec. 20. Gavin had initially hoped that he could return to the mat this season.

“It doesn’t look like he’s going to make it back this year,” Gavin said. “It’s a tough loss for us, but that’s the way it goes.”

Reece Heller, who is ranked 13th nationally at 184 pounds, sat out Friday’s dual at Virginia Tech and could miss this week’s battle with Virginia.

“He’s questionable for this Friday,” Gavin said. “I don’t know if he’s going to be back or not. Obviously, he has to be back for the ACCs. One way or another, he’ll be back.”

What’s ahead for Pitt

No. 18 Pitt (9-6, 2-3 in ACC) will visit Virginia (6-5, 1-4) on Friday.

Virginia is coming off Sunday’s 30-8 victory over American.

Despite their struggles in the ACC, the Cavaliers could cause problems for Pitt, especially in the lighter weights, where they have ranked wrestlers at 125 through 149. Nick Hamilton is also ranked at 165 for the Hoos.

“They had some injuries in the beginning of the year,” Gavin said. “With their full lineup, they’re a tough out. They’re a very balanced dual meet team. They don’t have too many weights where you can mark it down as a win.”

The final dual of the season for both teams will begin at 7 p.m.

“It’s a good one before ACCs,” Gavin said. “You don’t want an easy match, but you don’t want to wrestle Penn State right before you wrestle the conference tournament. We have a lot of guys right now that it’s important for seeding for them.”

The ACC championships will be held March 9 at Duke while the NCAA tournament is March 20-22 in Philadelphia.