Virginia Downs Auburn 6-4, Wins Inaugural Jax College Baseball Classic
The Virginia Cavaliers are the champions of the inaugural Jax College Baseball Classic.
In a high-quality field featuring two ranked teams and three teams who made the NCAA Tournament last season, UVA emerged from the competitive weekend in Jacksonville with its undefeated record still intact. After dispatching Wichita State and No. 18 Iowa in back-and-forth thrillers on Friday and Saturday, it only made sense that Virginia's finale against SEC foe Auburn would also come down to the wire.
Once again, the Cavaliers proved to be up to the challenge in the late-game situations, making enough clutch plays down the stretch as No. 14 Virginia (7-0) earned a 6-4 victory over Auburn (6-1) in a battle of unbeatens to claim the inaugural Jax College Baseball Classic Championship on Sunday night in Jacksonville.
Owen Coady, a lefty graduate transfer from Penn, made his first start in a UVA uniform and started the outing off with two scoreless innings, striking out two batters in the first and inducing an inning-ending double-play to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the second.
Virginia got on the board first in the top of the third as Griff O'Ferrall hit a leadoff single and came around to score on a Henry Ford groundout. Auburn answered in the bottom of the third with an unearned run from an error and then took the lead on an RBI single from Mason Maners in the fourth to make it 2-1 Tigers.
With that, UVA trailed for the sixth time in its first seven games of the season. O'Ferrall jumpstarted the Cavaliers again with a leadoff single in the top of the fifth and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Ethan Anderson. Virginia regained the lead on an RBI double by Luke Hanson in the sixth and tacked on another run on an RBI double by Casey Saucke down the left field line to make it 4-2 in the top of the seventh.
The Tigers got one back in the bottom of the seventh off of Kevin Jaxel, but the Cavaliers replenished their lead as Bobby Whalen delivered an RBI double and Anthony Stephan hit an RBI single to put UVA up 6-3. Angelo Tonas surrendered a solo home run to Deric Fabian in the bottom of the eighth, but got Virginia to the final frame still leading 6-4.
Aidan Teel, who appears to be an early reliable closer option for UVA, gave up a leadoff single to start the bottom of the ninth, but retired the next three batters to secure his third save of the season and the 6-4 victory for Virginia.
With come-from-behind victories over Wichita State, Iowa, and Auburn to win the inaugural Jax College Baseball Classic, Virginia is now 7-0, including six comeback wins, and will look to remain undefeated against VMI on Tuesday at 3pm at Disharoon Park.
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