Skip to main content
Cavaliers Now

Virginia Baseball Splits Doubleheader, Wins Series at North Carolina

The Cavaliers suffered their first loss of the season, but still secured the series win over the Tar Heels to open ACC play
Matt Newton|
Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

Virginia's reign as the sole undefeated team in college baseball lasted just one day, but starting ACC play by taking two out of three games on the road against a ranked opponent is a pretty good consolation prize. 

No. 17 Virginia clinched the first ACC series of the season with an 8-4 win over No. 14 North Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill and then the Tar Heels salvaged the series and handed the Cavaliers their first loss of the season with a 6-0 shutout victory over UVA on Saturday evening. 

In the first game of the doubleheader, Virginia quickly faced its largest deficit of the season as UVA starter Brian Edgington gave up three-consecutive RBI base hits to Jackson Van De Brake, Tomas Frick, and Alberto Osuna. 

North Carolina starter Connor Bovair managed to hold Virginia scoreless through the first four innings as the Cavaliers stranded eight runners on base and five in scoring position. The 3-0 lead for UNC lasted until the fifth inning, as Ethan Anderson drove in Virginia's first run with an RBI single and then Henry Godbout grounded out to score Casey Saucke. Virginia tied the game in the top of the sixth as Ethan O'Donnell drove a ball over the wall in left center field for a solo home run, his fourth homer of the season. 

The Cavaliers scored three more runs in the top of the seventh on a two-run double from Ethan Anderson and a sacrifice fly from Harrison Didawick. UVA then added another pair of runs in the eighth as Jake Gelof walked, advanced to third on a Kyle Teel double, and scored on a wild pitch before Teel came home on a Casey Saucke single. Virginia scored two in the fifth, one in the sixth, three in the seventh, and two in the eighth to turn a 3-0 deficit into an 8-3 lead. 

After a rough first inning, Brian Edgington settled in and went 5.2 innings, surrendering seven hits and three earned runs and striking out four batters. Edgington was lifted in the bottom of the sixth after giving up a pair of walks, but Jacob Hodorovich came in and retired each of the four batters he faced to get UVA into the eighth inning. Jay Woolfolk entered in the eighth and ran into some trouble right away as he gave up a double and two walks to load the bases with no outs. UNC scored a run on a sacrifice fly, but Woolfolk did a nice job working out of the inning with no further damage. Woolfolk walked another batter to start the ninth, but then retired the next three batters in order to secure Virginia's 8-4 win and the series victory for the Cavaliers. 

In the final game of the series, the UVA bats were silenced by the combined efforts of UNC's Jake Knapp and Matt Poston, who combined to hold Virginia to just five hits in the game while striking out seven. Virginia had opportunities with runners in scoring position in the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth innings, but couldn't convert as the Cavaliers were shut out for the first time this season. 

Jack O'Connor pitched four scoreless inning to start the game but then gave up two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. Bradley Hodges gave up a two-run home run to Mac Horvath in the seventh and Evan Blanco surrendered a solo homer to Johnny Castagnozzi in the eighth. North Carolina went on to earn its first shutout win over Virginia since 2011 and snapped a six-game losing streak to the Cavaliers dating back to February 2021. 

Now 14-1 and 2-1 in ACC play, Virginia returns home to host George Washington on Tuesday at 4pm at Disharoon Park before heading back on the road for a three-game series at NC State next weekend. 

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN

See more Virginia baseball news and content: Virginia Baseball on Sports Illustrated

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

Share on XFollow mattynewtss
Home/Baseball