University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pitt
15-5, 3-2
Georgia Tech
18-5, 5-3
Pitt Evens Series with Resilient Win Over No. 3 Georgia Tech
3/21/2026 8:40:00 PM | Baseball
PITTSBURGH – The Pitt Panthers (15-5, 3-2) evened their series against No. 3 ranked Georgia Tech (18-5, 5-3) with a back-and-forth 14-9 win on Saturday afternoon.
Pitt showed resilience at the plate and on the mound all afternoon. Any time the Yellow Jackets scored in the first four innings, the Panthers responded with runs of their own. Eddie Smink delivered another gutsy performance in relief, throwing three scoreless innings to close out Saturday's game and earn his first save of the season.
Today was Pitt's first win over a top five ranked team since 2023 when they beat No. 2 ranked Wake Forest.
The Panthers bashed four home runs for the second-consecutive game today which included back-to-back long balls from Kai Wagner and Jackson Cooke in the first inning. Pitt has slugged four or more home runs in five games this season. Seven different Panthers recorded a hit in the win.
Kai Wagner led all players with a season-high six RBIs in the win this afternoon. The senior went 3-4 and hit his third home run of the season. AJ Nessler logged a multiple-hit game for the 12th time this season, going 2-3 with three RBI and two walks. Derrick Tarpley Jr. made his second start of the year in center would hit his first home run of season. Jackson Cooke hit his fourth home run of the year as he and Wagner went back-to-back in the top of the first inning. Joey Baran picked up where Cooke left off, pinch-hitting for Jackson and slugging a three-run home run in the fourth inning. Baran was the first Panther to hit a pinch-hit home run since Cooke at Wake Forest last season.
Daniel McAuliff earned his team-leading third win of the season in relief, allowing just one run on two hits over 1.2 innings. Eddie Smink earned a three-inning save with his one-hit, shutout performance to put a bow on game two. In his last two outings, Smink has now allowed just one run over 8.1 innings in relief.
Georgia Tech led off the game with a three-run top of the first inning to take an early lead for the second time this weekend.
The Panthers' bats responded with a five-run, two-home run bottom half of the inning to take a 5-3 lead after one. Sebastian Pisacreta drove in Pitt's first run of the game on a single down the left field line that scored AJ Nessler from second. With runners now at the corners, Kai Wagner gave Pitt the lead with a three-run blast to right center. The Panthers would slug back-to-back home runs as Jackson Cooke launched a 2-0 pitch over the light pole in left.
While the Yellow Jackets added a run in the top of the second, Pitt tacked on three more to extend their lead to four. Trey Fenderson drove in Derrick Tarpley Jr. on an RBI fielder's choice then stole second base to put himself in scoring position. With the bases loaded, Kai Wagner delivered again with a two-run single to right that put Pitt up 8-4 after the first two innings.
Derrick Tarpley Jr. joined Pitt's home run party in the bottom of the third inning, slugging his first home run of the year off the batter's eye in center. The Panthers' advantage remained at four, leading 9-5 through three innings.
Pitt kept their foot on the gas and plated four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kai Wagner drove in his sixth run of the day on an RBI single up the middle they scored Carrier from second. The Panthers pinch-hit for Jackson Cooke with the left-handed hitting Joey Baran who jumped on a 3-1 pitch and slugged a three-run home run. Pitt now led by six runs, their largest of the game.
Georgia Tech scored a run in each of the fifth and sixth innings, but the Panthers still led 13-9 through six frames.
Pitt played small ball in the bottom of the seventh inning to score their 14th and final run of the game. AJ Nessler led off the inning with a walk and stole second base to himself in scoring position. Caden Dulin laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved Nessler over to third for Lorenzo Carrier who drove him in on a sacrifice fly to center.
Eddie Smink entered in the seventh inning and earned a three-inning save with three shutout innings as the Panthers evened the series on Saturday afternoon.
Pitt looks to clinch their second-consecutive ACC series tomorrow afternoon. First pitch is slated for 1 PM.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: McAuliff, Daniel (3-1)
L: Loy, Dylan (1-1)
S: Smink, Eddie (1)
Batting:
2B: Kerce, Carson 2 ; Burress, Drew 1 ; Lackey, Vahn 1 ; Advincula, Jarren 1
HR: Brosius, Parker 1 ; Rogers, Drew 1
RBI: Kerce, Carson 2 ; Brosius, Parker 1 ; Burress, Drew 1 ; Rogers, Drew 2 ; Schmidt, Kent 1 ; Lackey, Vahn 1 ; Zuckerman, Ryan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brosius, Parker 1 ; Burress, Drew 2 ; Rogers, Drew 2 ; Lackey, Vahn 2 ; Advincula, Jarren 1 ; Zuckerman, Ryan 1
Batting:
2B: Dierdorf, Carter 1
HR: Wagner, Kai 1 ; Tarpley Jr., Derrick 1 ; Cooke, Jackson 1 ; Baran, Joey 1
RBI: Wagner, Kai 6 ; Tarpley Jr., Derrick 1 ; Pisacreta, Sebastian 1 ; Carrier, Lorenzo 1 ; Cooke, Jackson 1 ; Baran, Joey 3 ; Fenderson, Trey 1
SH: Dulin, Caden 1
SF: Carrier, Lorenzo 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wagner, Kai 2 ; Tarpley Jr., Derrick 2 ; Pisacreta, Sebastian 1 ; Carrier, Lorenzo 2 ; Cooke, Jackson 1 ; Nessler, AJ 3 ; Baran, Joey 1 ; Fenderson, Trey 2
SB: Nessler, AJ 2 ; Fenderson, Trey 1
HBP: Tarpley Jr., Derrick 1
