No. 18 Pitt Claims Middle Game, 6-2

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 18 Pitt (11-4, 8-3 ACC) never trailed in a 6-2 series-clinching win over Virginia (8-10, 2-9 ACC) on Sunday (March 21) at Disharoon Park. The series finale will take place on Monday at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ACCNX.

Pittsburgh starting pitcher Matt Gilbertson tossed eight innings and earned his third win of the season. The righthander did not walk a batter, scattered five hits and struck out five Cavaliers. After 109 pitches Gilbertson gave way to Jordan McCrum who worked a scoreless ninth inning to seal the victory.

“Two back-to-back really outstanding starting pitching performances by their number one and number two starters,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “We showed signs, showed flashes at times but couldn’t put together a big inning at all and certainly they did with three innings where they had two runs. We just couldn’t muster up a big inning at all and based what we had seen on him (Gilbertson) that’s what you needed to do and we couldn’t pull it off.”

Senior Devin Ortiz (Nutley, N.J.) was responsible for one of the two Virginia runs on the afternoon after he hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot, in the eighth inning. The long ball was his fourth of his career.

Freshman Kyle Teel (Mahwah, N.J.) drove in the first Cavalier run in the sixth with a two-out single up the middle that scored Marc Lebreux (Montreal, Canada).Teel finished the day, 2-for-4 with an RBI, his third multi-hit game in eight starts this season.

Two of the six Pittsburgh runs were unearned as the Cavaliers committed two fielding errors. Starting pitcher Griff McGarry (Portola Valley, Calif.) took the loss after being lifted in the third inning. The Panthers scored two runs and recorded all four hits against McGarry in the third frame.

Zack Messinger (Chandler, Ind.) made his 10^th appearance out of the bullpen and pitched the next 3.1 innings. He fanned four batters and was responsible for one earned run. Freshman Luke Schauer (Washington, D.C.) was also charged with one of the two runs that came across in his 1.1 innings of work. Senior Kyle Whitten (Manassas, Va.) rounded out the Cavalier pitching duties by working a scoreless 1.2 innings and recording two strikeouts.

The quartet of Virginia pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts, the 14^th time this season the Cavaliers have combined for 10 or more strikeouts in a game.

The Cavaliers will look to salvage the series on Monday afternoon in the series finale. Virginia will send Mike Vasil to the hill and he will be opposed by righty Stephen Hansen of Pitt.

Additional Notes

• Gilbertson and McCrum did not walk a batter over nine innings, the fourth time this season an opponent has not walked a Virginia hitter. All four instances have occurred in ACC play.
• The Cavaliers turned a pair of double plays in the contest, a heads up 5-3 double up by Zack Gelof (Rehoboth Beach, Del.) to limit the damage in the third and a 4-6-3 twin killing in the sixth. The Cavaliers have turned to in five-straight contests.
• Sunday marked only the third time this season Virginia had multiple errors in a game.
• Ortiz’s homer extended his reached base streak to a team-high eight games.