BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – Gardner-Webb dropped a 38-4 decision Saturday afternoon to visiting No. 16 Pittsburgh in non-conference wrestling action inside Paul Porter Arena.
 
Gardner-Webb (2-10) fell behind early to Pitt (9-3), as Christian Salter was pinned by 13^th-ranked Nino Bonaccorsi in the opening bout of the day at 184 pounds.
 
The Panthers took two more wins, as Kellan Stout defeated Anthony Perrine at 197 pounds by a 5-2 decision, and Zach Bruce defeated Jeffery Linker by a 16-0 tech fall in the heavyweight matchup to hold a 14-0 advantage.
 
Pitt would take the 125-pound match by forfeit, and would take another decision at 133 pounds as Brandon Bright fell to Garrett Reinsfelder by a 5-1 score to set the score at 23-0.
 
The 141-pound matchup between Pitt's LJ Bentley and GWU's Blake Mulkey was tightly contested, going into three overtime periods until Bentley earned an escape to take a 5-4 decision and another win for the Panthers.
 
At 149 pounds, Conrad Schiess would be pinned by Robert Lee in the opening period, and Evan Schenk would drop a 9-5 decision to Riley Barth at 157 pounds to give the Panthers a 35-0 lead.
 
Tyler Marinelli broke the shutout for the Runnin' Bulldogs at 165 pounds, defeating Tommy O'Brien by a 10-1 major decision.  The reigning Southern Conference wrestler of the week improved to 11-0 in dual matches for the year, and has now won six of those matches by either major decision or tech fall.
 
Action wrapped up for the day at 174 pounds, as Kyle Homet fell to Pitt's Gregg Harvey by a narrow 5-3 decision.
 
Gardner-Webb returns to action Tuesday evening, hosting SoCon foe VMI.  The match is set for a 7:00pm start time from Paul Porter Arena with live coverage on ESPN+.
 
TEAM SCORES: No. 16 Pittsburgh 38, Gardner-Webb 4

184: #13 Nino Bonaccorsi (PITT) def. Christian Salter (GWU) Fall 2:42
197: Kellan Stout (PITT) def. Anthony Perrine (GWU) Dec. 5-2
285: Zach Bruce (PITT) def. Jeffery Linker (GWU) TF 16-0 2:06
125: Brendon Fenton (PITT) won by forfeit
133: Garrett Reinsfelder (GWU) def. Brandon Bright (GWU) Dec. 5-1
141: LJ Bentley (PITT) def. Blake Mulkey (GWU) TB-1 5-4
149: Robert Lee (PITT) def. Conrad Schiess (GWU) Fall 2:36
157: Riley Barth (PITT) def. Evan Schenk (GWU) Dec. 9-5
165: #20 Tyler Marinelli (GWU) def. Thomas O'Brien (PITT) MD 10-1
174: Gregg Harvey (PITT) def. Kyle Homet (GWU) Dec. 5-3