Cavaliers Now

Virginia Baseball Drops Series Opener to NC State 7-5

Matt Newton

Eric Becker rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Virginia baseball game against NC State at Disharoon Park.
Eric Becker rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the Virginia baseball game against NC State at Disharoon Park. / Virginia Athletics

In their first ACC game in nearly two weeks, the Cavaliers couldn't quite get their offense going, scoring five runs on only seven hits and stranding seven runners on base as No. 10 Virginia (36-13, 14-11 ACC) had its five-game winning streak snapped in a 7-5 loss to No. 23 NC State (28-18, 14-10 ACC) in the series opener on Friday night at Disharoon Park.

It was a rough start to the game for UVA starter Evan Blanco, who gave up a single, a double, and then another single to let NC State take a 1-0 lead before striking out three of the next four batters to get out of the inning with no further damage.

Virginia's offense responded in the bottom half of the first, as Griff O'Ferrall walked and Ethan Anderson singled to put runners on first and second with no outs. The next two batters struck out, but then Jacob Ference delivered a two-out three-run home run to left field to put the Cavaliers in front 3-1.

The next three innings passed without any runs crossing the plate, as Blanco and NC State starter Sam Highfill each breezed through the second and worked around some trouble in the third and fourth to keep that score at 3-1.

NC State tied things up with two runs in the top of the fifth, scoring on a fielder's choice double play and then a solo home run from Brandon Butterworth.

Both sides were retired in order in the sixth and then NC State took the lead in the top of the seventh as Chase Hungate surrendered back-to-back RBI singles to Luke Nixon and Alex Sosa

Virginia threatened with two runners on base in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn't capitalize.

By the time the Cavaliers got something going offensively again, the Wolfpack had pushed their lead to four runs as Blake Barker gave up a single and then gave the ball to Jay Woolfolk, who gave up a two-run home run to Garrett Pennington to make it 7-3.

So when Virginia got two runs back in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run home run from Eric Becker, that only served to bring the Cavaliers back within two runs rather than tying the game.

Griff O'Ferrall followed that up with a double down the right field line, but the next two UVA batters were retired to send the game to the ninth with NC State still leading 7-5.

Woolfolk retired the side in order in the top of the ninth, but the Cavaliers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth as NC State took game 1. Chase Hungate was assigned the loss, his first of the season.

Virginia will look to even the series with NC State in game 2 on Saturday at 12pm at Disharoon Park.

Published
Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedInย | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 andย has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021.ย