Matt Wyatt, Virginia Cavaliers baseball — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics

No. 12 Virginia Falls to No. 10 Louisville 11-3 in Regular Season Finale

The Cavaliers dropped the final game and series of the season to the Cardinals on Saturday

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
May 21, 2022 4:10 PM EDT

Virginia baseball concluded the regular season on Saturday with the rubber match of a three-game series against No. 10 Louisville. The Cardinals put together 15 hits and took advantage of three Virginia errors to beat UVA 11-3 in the regular season finale.

Louisville scored the first seven runs of the game, the first six of which came in the first two innings. Jake Berry got the start on the bump for the Cavaliers and, after striking out the first batter he faced, gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. Berry got another strikeout, but then gave up a two-run single to Levi Usher.

In the bottom of the second, Berry surrendered a leadoff double to Isaac Humphrey, who came around to score on an RBI single by Ben Bianco. Berry was replaced by Jay Woolfolk, who gave up a two-run home run to Ben Metzinger and then a solo homer to Jack Payton to make it 6-0 Louisville. The Cardinals added a seventh run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.

The Virginia offense, which totaled 16 runs in a game 2 win on Friday, was smothered by the Louisville pitching staff and was held off the board for the first six innings. Starter Carson Liggett went two innings and allowed just one hit. Tate Kuehner entered the game in the third and pitched four-straight scoreless innings and worked into the seventh.

UVA put two runners on in the seventh and Louisville subsequently pulled Kuehner in favor of Ryan Hawks. Griff O'Ferrall singled off of Hawks to load the bases and then Justin Rubin hit an RBI single to get the Cavaliers on the board. Alex Tappen grounded out to score another run, but the damage was contained there as Hawks struck out Jake Gelof to end the inning with runners on second and third.

Louisville got one back immediately in the bottom of the seventh as Isaac Humphrey homered off of Matt Wyatt. The Cavaliers answered with a home run of their own as Devin Ortiz hit a leadoff homer to make it 8-3. Hawks retired the next three batters with ease to end the inning.

Louisville put the nail in the coffin in the bottom of the eighth. Noah Smith hit a leadoff single and scored on a double by Metzinger. Dalton Rushing then hit a two-run home run to center field to make it 11-3.

Michael Prosecky pitched the ninth for the Cardinals and set the Cavaliers down in order to end the game and clinch the series win for Louisville.

Virginia finishes the season 38-15 and 17-13 in ACC play, good for a third-place finish in the ACC Coastal. UVA is set to play in the ACC Baseball Championship, which begins Tuesday at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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