The No. 10 Virginia baseball team lost to the Pitt Panthers 7-5 in a closely contested game on April 25 at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh.
The result marks a setback for Virginia, which saw five lead changes throughout the night before Pitt scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure the win. The Cavaliers are now 29-14 overall and hold a conference record of 12-10, while Pitt improved to 26-14 and is now 8-11 in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
Virginia starter Henry Zatkowski pitched over seven innings with nine strikeouts but received a no-decision after allowing four earned runs. Lucas Hartman took his first loss of the season by giving up two go-ahead runs during Pitt’s decisive eighth-inning rally. Offensively, Zach Jackson led Virginia with three hits out of five at-bats, while Sam Harris, Joe Tiroly, and Jake Weatherspoon each contributed two hits.
The Cavaliers took an early lead when RJ Holmes singled home Kyle Johnson in the second inning. After several exchanges—including home runs from both teams—Virginia was ahead until Carter Dierdorf’s two-run homer for Pitt put them up for good in the eighth inning. Despite loading the bases with one out in their final at-bat, Virginia could not complete a comeback.
Coach Chris Pollard said after the game: “They made three great plays on us with runners in scoring position. They took a home run away from Kyle Johnson that would have been a three-run home run. They took a hit away from RJ Holmes with runners at second and third. Then they took two or three runs off the board by just being in the right position on Kyle’s ball. That is a little bit of our sport. It is really three things. Henry pitched an incredible ballgame. Zatkowski was great for us and they took some runs away from us with some great defensive plays and we had one or two defensive plays that we didn’t make that we needed to.”
With this loss, Virginia falls to 25-2 this season when leading after seven innings and has passed its previous mark for third-most team home runs in school history with its current total of 76 homers this year.
Looking ahead, Virginia will try to even up its series against Pitt on Saturday afternoon as left-handed pitcher Kyle Johnson takes the mound.
