Pitt earns spot in ACC baseball tournament for 3rd straight year

Despite losing its final three games and four of the last five regular-season contests, Pitt baseball built up enough equity to earn a berth in the ACC Tournament — thanks to Florida State’s victory against Louisville last Saturday.

Starting Wednesday in Durham (N.C.) Bulls Athletics Park, Pitt (23-30, 10-18) will play in its third consecutive ACC Tournament after the Panthers had made only one appearance in the conference’s showcase baseball event before 2021.

The tournament, consisting of four pools with three teams each, starts Tuesday and will conclude Sunday with the championship game.

Pitt, the No. 12 seed, will play in Pool A, with Wake Forest (45-9, 22-7), the nation’s No. 1 team and the top seed in the tournament. No. 8 seed Notre Dame (30-22, 15-15) is also in Pool A.

The Panthers will confront the Irish at 11 a.m. Wednesday and Wake Forest at 11 a.m. Thursday. To advance to the semifinal game, Pitt must win both games. If all three teams finish pool play 1-1, the higher seed (Wake Forest) advances.

The Panthers lost their series against Notre Dame and Wake Forest in April, winning one of the three games. Against the Irish, Pitt scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to win 9-5, on April 8.

Two weeks later, Pitt shut out Wake Forest, 3-0, the only game this season the Demon Deacons failed to score. The Panthers got an early cushion on home runs by Jayden Melendez and Justin Acal in the first and second innings. Wining pitcher Jack Sokol and relievers Dylan Simmons and Nash Bryan held Wake Forest to six hits and struck out seven batters.

Pool B consists of No. 2 seed Virginia, No. 7 seed North Carolina and No. 11 seed Georgia Tech. Pool C will include No. 3 seed Clemson, No. 6 seed Boston College and No. 10 seed Virginia Tech.

Pool D includes No. 4 Miami, No. 5 Duke and No. 9 NC State.

Pool play will run from Tuesday through Friday) with three games a day (11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m.). The semifinal games will be Saturday at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. and the championship game will be at noon Sunday. All games will be on the ACC Network with the championship game on ESPN2.

As the 11 seed last season Pitt beat No. 7 seed Georgia Tech and walked it off against No. 2 seed Louisville to win its pool and clinch a berth in the ACC semifinals. The Panthers then lost to No. 10 N.C. State.