The Pittsburgh Panthers Walk Off to the Semifinals

CHARLOTTE, NC– The No. 11 Pittsburgh Panthers came back to defeat the No. 7 Louisville Cardinals, 6-5, in walk-off fashion at Truist Field.

The win this afternoon sealed the Panthers a spot in the semifinals to play for the ACC Championship game on Sunday.

The Panthers took the lead first in the bottom of the third with a home run to left field by Jeffrey Wehler. This resulted in two RBIs to get Brock Franks to home plate, putting Pitt up 2-0 early in the game.

Louisville started to get in the groove of things in the fourth inning when Dalton Rushing hit a monster homer out of the stadium to put the Cards on the board. This gave Rushing his 20^th home run of the season, but he didn’t stop there. In the top of the fifth, Rushing hit his second dinger of the afternoon to center field which gave way for Metzinger to score. The Cards took hold of the lead, 4-2, with help from Metzinger’s single to right field to allow Bianco a run.

Wehler answered the three-run game by the Cardinals with a home run for himself in the bottom of the fifth to put the Panthers down one with the score being 4-3. Levi Usher, for Louisville, added his name to the list of home run hitters earning one in the top of the sixth to usher himself to home plate putting the score 5-3 for the Cards.

With a back-and-forth battle of home runs, Pitt settled the competition with Levin’s homering to right field in the seventh which was then followed by an unearned score by Washington in the bottom of the eighth to tie the game 5-5. The Panthers’ closing pitcher, Baron Stuart, was able to hold the Cardinals allowing only one hit in the last two innings.

Pittsburgh closed out the game in the ninth inning with a single to center field made by Bryce Hulett, which allowed for Tatem Levins to advance to third, and Wehler to score giving the Panthers the win 6-5.

The Panthers go on to play Saturday, May 28th against the Pool C winner at 5 P.M back at Truist Field.