Baseball: Panthers sweep Yellow Jackets at home

The Pitt baseball team continued its strong stretch of play over the weekend by sweeping a three-game set from the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Charles L. Cost Field. The three victories moved Pitt (15-11, 7-5 ACC) out of last place in the Coastal Division of the ACC and ran the Panthers perfect home record to 8-0.

“We beat a very, very good baseball team,” head coach Joe Jordano said on Sunday. “But I thought our guys came in and played our game. We played clean baseball, we pitched well, we played hard, and we took advantage of some offensive opportunities.”

Game 1: Pitt 4, Georgia Tech 3 (13 innings)

The Panthers began their weekend series with a dramatic win against the Yellow Jackets on Friday, as Steven Shelinsky hit a walk-off double with one out in the bottom of the 13th inning. Matt Johnson worked a lead-off walk after a nine-pitch at-bat, then moved to second on a bunt from Boo Vazquez. 

After Casey Roche was issued an intentional walk, Shelinsky drove the first pitch he saw from reliever Dusty Isaacs to deep center field, which allowed Johnson to score the game-winning run with ease. 

Pitt took the game’s first lead in the first inning against Josh Heddinger after Stephen Vranka led off the Panthers’ first turn at the plate with a double to left center field. He moved to third on a groundout by Johnson, then scored when Vazquez flew out to left field. 

Georgia Tech responded two innings later with a pair of runs in the top of the third. After Pitt scored two to tie the game at 2-2, the Yellow Jackets added one more in the fourth to tie the game at 3-3, where it stayed until Shelinsky’s game-winning double. 

Jon Danielczyk (3-0) earned the win after he tossed a scoreless frame in the top of the 13th, while starter Rhys Aldenhoven allowed three runs on 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. Pitt’s workhorse Friday was reliever Hobie Harris, who allowed just one hit in 6 2/3 innings of relief work. 

“Rhys gave us an opportunity, and of course Hobie’s been solid for us all year,” Jordano said. “He made some big pitches, got out of a couple of jams and did a great job for us.”

Game 2: Pitt 5, Georgia Tech 0

Saturday, the Panthers pulled away from the Yellow Jackets late by scoring five runs in their last four at-bats. 

Pitt was able to win Saturday behind eight shutout innings from Joe Harvey (2-1), who needed just 96 pitches to record 24 outs. Harvey gave up only three hits and two walks to Georgia Tech’s hitters while striking out three batters in an outing Jordano commended.

“He commanded his fastball extremely well,” Jordano said. “Ran into a couple of 3-2 counts early in the ballgame but pitched through those. [Harvey] was just outstanding.”

Danielczyk gave up a hit in the ninth, but no runs to close out the win for the Panthers. 

At the plate, Roche led the offense with a 3-for-4 day, including a run scored and another driven in. Dylan Wolsonovich also picked up a pair of hits as the duo accounted for more than half of Pitt’s nine hits Saturday. 

The Panthers only picked up two hits in their first four innings against Georgia Tech starter Devin Stanton, but pushed two runs across in the fifth. This knocked Stanton out of the game after he managed to record only one out in the frame.

Vranka led off with a base hit to left field, and Wolsonovich followed with a double to the same side of the field. Vranka then scored the game-winning run on a RBI groundout by Vazquez and Wolsonovich followed after when Roche singled. 

Jordan Frabasilio scored one more run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Manny Pazos, and Pazos drove in another run in the eighth as the Panthers extended their lead to 5-0. 

Game 3: Pitt 4, Georgia Tech 2

Sunday afternoon Matt Wotherspoon delivered one of his best outings of the season, leading the Panthers to their 18th-consecutive victory at the Petersen Sports Complex. Wotherspoon (3-3) threw seven innings and gave up a pair of runs on six hits and walked no batters. 

Wotherspoon was touched for just one run in the fifth and seventh innings, but struck out four batters and needed 100 pitches to get through his seven frames of work. Wotherspoon said his fastball location was one of the keys to his success on the mound after struggling with that aspect in the last few weeks. 

“I kind of got back to working off my fastball today,” Wotherspoon said. “Just getting ahead of guys then being able to throw the off-speed while I’m ahead made it easy to put guys away.”

Behind the senior from Mountain Top, Pa., the Panthers handed Matthew Grimes his first loss of the season. Pitt got out to a 2-0 lead in the third and chased Grimes from the mound with another run in the fifth inning. 

Wotherspoon’s performance was one Jordano said he was “really pleased with” and one that both the pitcher and the team needed. 

“He commanded his pitches well,” Jordano said. “He gave us an opportunity, just as Joe and Rhys did the previous two days.”

Wolsonovich put the Panthers up in the third when he singled to right on a 3-1 offering, scoring Pazos and Johnson from second and third, respectively. Georgia Tech responded with one run in the fifth on a RBI single from Daniel Spingola, but Wotherspoon escaped any more trouble by inducing a flyout. 

Pitt answered by scratching out a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to open up a three-run lead that the Yellow Jackets could not overcome. Luke Curtis entered in relief of Wotherspoon and allowed a pair of hits but no damage to cap off the sweep.