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. The Cavaliers, now with a record of 29-14 overall and 12-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, saw their lead slip away after Pitt scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The game featured five lead changes, with both teams exchanging home runs and key hits throughout the night. Virginia starter Henry Zatkowski pitched seven-plus innings, allowing four earned runs and striking out nine batters before receiving a no-decision. Lucas Hartman took his first loss of the season after giving up two go-ahead runs in the eighth.
Zach Jackson led Virginia’s offense with three hits in 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, but Pitt responded with a two-run homer by Sebastian Pisacreta. Both teams continued to trade leads until Carter Dierdorf’s two-run home run for Pitt secured their victory.
Seven of nine starters for Virginia recorded base hits during the game. With two more home runs on Friday night, Virginia has now hit 76 homers this season—surpassing its total from 2022 for third-most all-time by a Cavalier squad. Joe Tiroly extended his reached-base streak to fifteen games with a single in the fifth inning.
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.”
Looking ahead, Virginia will try to even up its series against Pitt on Saturday afternoon behind left-handed pitcher Kyle Johnson.
