Weekend Recap: Pitt takes one against No. 8 Notre Dame
ACC Coastal Standings
1. Miami 18-9, 37-14
2. Virginia Tech 16-9, 36-11
3. Virginia 16-11, 37-13
4. Pitt 13-13, 27-22
5. North Carolina 12-15, 31-19
6. Georgia Tech 12-15, 28-21
7. Duke 9-17, 20-29
Weekly recap
May 10: West Virginia, Loss 9-1
May 13: Notre Dame, Loss 8-3
May 14: Notre Dame, Loss 8-1
May 15: Notre Dame, Win 5-2
The Pitt baseball team once again finds itself on the NCAA Tournament bubble, but the Panthers chances seem to be dwindling of late and a 1-3 week did not help matters. The Panthers started with a 9-1 midweek loss to West Virginia. After defeating West Virginia earlier in the year, Pitt lost the final two games against the Mountaineers to lose the Backyard Brawl season series.
West Virginia got to Pitt starter Jonathan Bautista early with three runs in the first. The Mountaineers added three more in the fourth off of reliever Dylan Lester. Ron Washington Jr. homered in the seventh to get Pitt on the board, but that was short lived life for the Panthers. West Virginia’s Braden Barry clobbered a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-1. Pitt was held to just two hits, both by Washington, and never really made it much of a game.
Pitt then had perhaps its most difficult challenge of the season over the weekend, a road series against No. 8 Notre Dame. The Panthers had a chance to make a statement series victory on Friday night, but the jitters seemed to get to the Panthers.
Notre Dame plated five runs in the first inning on five hits and four Pitt errors. It was a disaster of a start to the series and the Panthers never really recovered. Pitt starter Matt Gilbertson gutted out six innings and allowed six runs on nine hits and struck out four.
Already trailing 7-0, Pitt tried to start chipping away in the top if the sixth. Jeffrey Wehler brought home a run on a base hit, and Tatem Levins doubled him home to make it 7-2. Ron Washington’s base hit in the eighth make it 7-3, but the Panthers could not pull it any closer.
The potent Notre Dame offense kept it going on Saturday against Billy Corcoran. The Irish struck for two runs in the second on a pair of doubles. Overall, Corcoran surrendered 7 runs on 12 hits in 6 2/3 innings. He did not get much run support either. The Panthers struck out 16 times in this one and only mustered one run on five hits. Pitt’s lone run came on a throwing error off a stolen base attempt in the third. Jack Anderson recorded a multi-hit game.
Looking to avoid the sweep, Pitt turned to the struggling Logan Evans, and the sophomore for Michigan churned out one of his best starts of the season. Evans entered this game having allowed four or more runs in his past five starts, but held up strong against a tough Notre Dame team. He went 6 2/3 allowed two earned on five hits. He struck out three and did not issue a walk. Notre Dame grounded out 10 times in the game as he kept the Irish off balance.
Jeffrey Wehler singled home a run in the third, and that represented the game’s only run until the seventh. Pitt got some insurance thanks to a Dom Popa pinch hit double and a Tatem Levins three-run shot to make it 5-0.
Notre Dame got two back on a Jack Penney two-run shot off of Evans, but that was all the Irish could get across. Baron Stuart came on and returned the final seven batters to get his seventh save.
Top hitter of the week
Tatem Levins
The Panthers collectively only registered 10 runs on 26 hits in four games this week. It was not a good time to have the bats go silent all at once, but Tatem Levins had the most timely hit of the week and I’m giving him the nod for that. His three-run home run in the seventh broke open the game to lead to Pitt’s lone win this week. Levins also had a three-hit game on Friday night as well.
Top pitcher of the week
Logan Evans
Pitt lost the first two games of the Notre Dame series with its two best pitchers, Matt Gilbertson and Billy Corcoran, going down in back-to-back games. Logan Evans has been in Pitt’s weekend rotation most of the season, but has had some recent struggles. His last quality start came back on March 25th against Clemson. Since then he has only lasted until the fifth inning once in five starts and allowed four or more runs in each of those outings. So when he set down Notre Dame for six shutout innings, it was one of the bigger surprises of the season. Evans allowed a two-run home run in the seventh, but otherwise pitched a great game. With the teams’ back up against the wall, Evans delivered a huge performance to avoid a sweep.
Clinched
Pitt clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament on Sunday with that 5-2 win over Notre Dame. The Panthers will be heading to Charlotte’s Truist Field no matter what happens in this weekend’s series against Georgia Tech. Pitt is playing for seeding and improving its tournament resume at this point.
The week ahead
Tuesday May 17: Penn State, 6:00 p.m. PNC Park
Thursday May 19: Georgia Tech, 6:00 p.m.
Friday May 20: Georgia Tech, 6:00 p.m.
Saturday May 21: Georgia Tech, 1:00 p.m.
Pitt will play its second game of the season at PNC Park this week as they take on in-state rival Penn State, This will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams, as an earlier game was postponed due to weather. Penn State is 11-9 in Big Ten play, good for fifth place in the league. The Nittany Lions have a 24-24 overall record.
Pitt will then play its final ACC series of the season at home beginning on Thursday against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets are just two games back in the loss column entering the series.