PITTSBURGH – Runs were at a premium at Charles L. Cost Field Sunday afternoon as the Virginia Tech Hokies and Pittsburgh Panthers were locked in team pitchers' duel. The Panthers scored the lone run of the game in the fourth and avoided an ACC weekend sweep at the hands of the Hokies with the 1-0 decision.
Tech (13-6, 3-3 ACC) has swept an ACC opponent nine times in its history in the league and has just three on the road. The Hokies took the first two games of the weekend by a 27-5 combined score and were looking for their first road sweep since 2013 at Duke.
However, Pittsburgh (7-11, 1-5 ACC) took its first lead of the weekend in the fourth thanks to Connor Perry, who turned a leadoff walk into the game's only run. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, went to third on a single by Ron Washington, Jr. and scored on a grounder to first off the bat of David Yanni.
Tech had some chances, but could not come up with the key base hit. The team had first and third with one out in the first, had the leadoff batter on base in the second, third and fourth, had a runner thrown out at third with one out in the eighth and had runners on the corners with two out in the ninth.
Panther pitchers – they used five in the game – came up with the big outs, a couple defensive plays (one caught stealing, the out at third, and a double play) and did not surrender the game-tying hit.
Carson Taylor had two hits for Tech, as he notched his eighth multi-hit game of the season. With a single in the eighth, Kerry Carpenter kept his reached base streak alive, as he's been on base in every game this season.
On the mound, Peyton Alford, in his second start of the year, tossed a season-high 5.1 innings, allowed one hit and struck out four batters. Jack Dellinger (1.0 IP/1 K) and Nic Enright (1.2 IP/4 K) both also allowed one hit, but kept the Panthers off the board in hopes of a Tech comeback.
For the weekend, the six runs allowed by the staff was the fewest since Tech allowed six runs to Boston College in a three game series at the Eagles in 2016. In that series, though, the Hokies won the first game 5-0, then dropped the final two 2-0 and 4-1.
Tech notes
- Tech trails in the all-time series with Pitt 20-17-1.
- The Hokies are 5-10 all-time in Pittsburgh, but secured their first-ever road series win over the Panthers.
- Tech turned one double play in the game, has 18 this season.
- It's just the second 1-0 loss for Tech in an ACC game - the team lost 1-0 to NC State, May 14 last year in Blacksburg.
Up Next
Tech will be busy again this week, with a pair of midweek games – home versus High Point on Tuesday and on the road against Marshall on Wednesday – with both starting at 4 p.m. The Hokies will then play host to the North Carolina Tar Heels this upcoming weekend, a three-game ACC series at English Field at Union Park that opens on Friday with a 6 p.m. first pitch