Virginia Bats Finally Come Alive in 18-0 Beatdown at Pittsburgh

The Cavaliers woke up from a team-wide hitting slump and blitzed the Panthers with 16 hits and 18 runs on Saturday

Author:
Matt Newton
Updated:
Apr 16, 2022 8:01 PM EDT
Original:
Apr 16, 2022

After a record-breaking start to the season, the Virginia bats seemingly vanished for the last six games. Before that point, the Cavaliers were averaging over 11 runs per game. Since then, UVA has averaged just four runs per game over the last six games, the last five of which were all losses - Virginia's longest losing streak since 2003.

At long last, the Virginia offense awoke from its slumber and put a 17-0 beatdown on the Pitt Panthers on Saturday to even the series at one game apiece.

The Cavaliers took no time at all to jump on the Panthers in the first inning, as Griff O'Ferrall led off the game with a double and Kyle Teel followed that up with a double of his own.

Jake Gelof singled to score Teel and the Cavaliers quickly took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first.

Pittsburgh starter Logan Evans got the next four outs and then used a double-play to get out of a jam in the second inning, but the UVA offense kept the pressure up in the third. Teel got on board with a leadoff single, then Jake Gelof hit another single, which ended up being enough to score Teel from first base as Pitt committed an error. Gelof moved to third base on a balk and then came home on a groundout from Alex Tappen.

Brian Gursky was excellent on the mound for the Cavaliers, going 6.2 scoreless inning, giving up just two hits and striking out six batters. While the 4-0 lead was sufficient with Gursky dealing on the mound, UVA has seen leads like that evaporate easily over the five-game losing streak.

Thankfully, the Virginia offense exploded in the top of the fifth to blow the game open. Devin Ortiz hit a double to left field to score Gelof and Tappen, which ended Logan Evans' day on the mound. Pitt brought in CJ McKennitt, who managed to get the first out of the inning but then struggled with location. McKennitt walked Colin Tuft and then a wild pitch allowed Alex Tappen to score. Freshman Anthony Stephan drew a walk and then Jake Rubin delivered a two-run single into left field. McKennitt's brief appearance came to an end after giving up another RBI single to Griff O'Ferrall.

Pitt inserted lefty Ben Dragani, who had even more accuracy issues on the mound for the Panthers. Dragani walked three consecutive batters, resulting in two runs scoring for Virginia. Dylan Lester entered the game for Pitt and got Devin Ortiz to ground into a double play to finally end the inning with UVA leading 11-0.

Miscues continued to cost the Panthers for the remainder of the game. In the top of the sixth, Colin Tuft drew a walk, moved to second on a ground out, and then came home on an error. In the seventh, another Pittsburgh infield error allowed two more runs to score for the Cavaliers. Stephan flied out to left field, which scored Ortiz from third to make it 15-0. Pittsburgh committed four errors in the game.

UVA tacked on three more runs in the eighth inning for good measure on a two-run double from Ethan Anderson and an RBI single from Colin Tuft.

Alex Greene came in for Gursky in the seventh inning and pitched the remainder of the game, giving up just two hits and preserving the shutout for the Cavaliers.

With the win, Virginia snaps its five-game losing streak and improves to 27-8 overall and 10-7 in ACC play. The Cavaliers will look to win the series against Pittsburgh on Sunday at 2pm.

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