Tenth-ranked UVA swept by Pitt following 7-3 defeat

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 10 Virginia baseball team dropped a 7-3 contest on Sunday afternoon to Pitt at Charles L. Cost Field in Pittsburgh.

Pitt scored the opening four runs of the contest before a Panther wild pitch plated the first Virginia run in the top of the fourth. The homestand answered by scoring three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to put the game out of reach at 7-1. UVA scratched a run in the sixth and one in the ninth for the 7-3 final.

Virginia starter John Paone took the loss on Sunday after allowing four runs on seven hits and a pair of walks. RJ Holmes led all Cavaliers batters on the day by going 2 for 4 with a run driven in, while Joe Tiroly and Zach Jackson each had a double.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Pitt (28-14, 10-11 ACC) scratched across a run in the bottom of the first with an RBI double down the line in right to take an early 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless second, the Panthers pushed their advantage to 4-0 with a three-run third inning that included a two-run bases-loaded double.

Tiroly worked a one-out walk in the fourth and later became Virginia’s first run of the game when the junior scampered home from third on a Pitt wild pitch with two outs.

The Panthers answered immediately in the home half with a trio of runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 7-1.

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Tiroly led off the top of the sixth with a ground-rule double down the line in right field and scored a handful of batters later on a Kyle Johnson RBI groundout.

In relief, freshman Thomas Stewart tossed a pair of scoreless innings with two strikeouts to keep the Cavaliers (29-16, 12-12) within striking distance. Lucas Hartman and Tyler Kapa closed out the weekend by combining to hold Pitt scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings of Sunday’s contest.

Down to the final two outs of the weekend, Jackson smacked a double over the left fielder’s head and later came around to score on an RBI single from Holmes to make it a 7-3 final.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

Despite the weekend sweep, Virginia still leads the all-time series with Pitt, 28-12.
Pitt is the first ACC team to sweep UVA in a three-game series on the road since Notre Dame in 2023.
With this single in the fourth, Sam Harris has reached base safely in each of his last 11 games.

FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD

Coach Pollard on today’s game.#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/a59PxDcXCx

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) April 26, 2026

“Credit to Pitt, they played really well and they are a really good team. That is a bunch of veteran guys playing with a bunch of confidence right now and I have a lot of respect for coach Bell, he has done a great job with their club. I just told our guys at the end that I don’t have any qualms, any problems, with the effort or the energy or the connectiveness, guys picking each other up. We just have to play better. We have to play ourselves to the other side of this. We know we are a better club than we showed this weekend. We showed that in large stretches and in a big sample size over the course of this season and we are going to play better. We’re going home to regroup and we have to get some guys going a little bit offensively and we will. We showed some good signs in the ninth and there is a lot better baseball for this group ahead of us. If they stay connected and committed to each other like they are right now, they are going to look up at the end of May and like where they are at.”

UP NEXT

No. 10 Virginia will return to Disharoon Park on Tuesday for a midweek contest against George Mason to open the longest home stand of the season. First pitch between the Cavaliers and Patriots is scheduled for 6 p.m. while being carried on ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).

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