The Pittsburgh Panthers fell to the Virginia Tech Hokies 22-5 in Blacksburg on Saturday, March 19.
The Hokies racked up 19 hits: the Panthers, 16. However, Pitt stranded 12 base runners, and couldn’t keep up as VPI piled on.
Panthers starter Logan Evans had his worst outing of the season as the Hokies shelled him for seven runs in 2.2 innings, and Pitt couldn’t overcome the deficit.
Pitt batters, for their part, got to first-year Hokies phenom Drue Hackenberg, who entered the game with a 1.96 ERA in four starts. The Panthers managed to hit two home runs—and four runs total—off of him in six innings of work.
Redshirt sophomore Brady Devereux entered in place of Evans, and retired his first seven batters. In the sixth inning, however, he gave up an RBI single and a two-run blast to junior right fielder Nick Biddison, as the Hokies established a 10-4 lead. Two pitching changes did nothing to mitigate the damage: Ben Dragani gave up a ground rule double that made it 12-4, then left before recording an out, and Dylan Lester allowed a three-run home run to catcher Cade Hunter and a solo shot to infielder Carson DeMartini.
Pitt loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh inning, but the rally died with a lineout to DeMartini.
Hokies left fielder Jack Hurley stretched the lead to 17-4 with a solo home run in the bottom of the frame, his second of the day.
The Panthers added one run each in the eighth and ninth, while the Hokies added five runs on a single, a walk, and a ground-rule double with the bases loaded.
The loss moves the Panthers to 10-9 on the season, and 1-4 in conference play. They’ll take the field at 2pm on Sunday, March 20 for their rubber match with the Hokies. Billy Corcoran is projected to start, after swapping spots in the rotation with Evans during the UNC series.
This was a total disaster. Evens was horrible but they had to let him pitch because the bullpen is so shallow. Bell has to get more pitching on campus if he wants to be competitive.
Play in the field was sloppy. These guys totally slept-walked through this game from the very beginning.