Virginia Blasts Four Home Runs, Downs Duke 14-4 to Force Game 3

Behind four home runs, including a record-breaking homer from Jake Gelof, the Cavaliers crushed the Blue Devils to keep their season alive

There will be a winner-take-all game 3 to decide the Charlottesville Super Regional on Sunday. 

There's a sort of poetic justice to how Virginia evened the series on Saturday. After Jake Gelof came within a couple of feet of hitting a walk-off home run in a disheartening game 1 loss, Gelof and the Cavaliers came back with a vengeance in game 2, riding an onslaught of four home runs, including a record-breaking homer from Gelof, as No. 7 Virginia (49-13) routed Duke (39-23) 14-4 on Saturday afternoon on Disharoon Park to force a game 3 on Sunday. 

All season long, Griff O'Ferrall has given the Cavaliers strong starts by reaching base to lead off the first inning. With the season on the line, O'Ferrall took his usual production at the leadoff spot up a notch as he took the second pitch of the game from Duke starter Alex Gow deep to left-center field for a leadoff home run, his first homer of the year and third of his collegiate career. 

That gave Connelly Early a 1-0 lead to work with before he even stepped on the field for the first time. Early gave up a leadoff single to Alex Mooney, but with the help of a rare 3-6-1 double play, he faced the minimum in the bottom of the first inning. 

Virginia tacked on two more runs in the top of the second as Ethan Anderson was hit by a pitch, went first to third on a single from Casey Saucke, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Anthony Stephan. Saucke then stole second and came around to score UVA's third run on a single from Henry Godbout. 

Early worked around a pair of singles in the second inning and a hit batter in the third to keep Duke scoreless and then the Cavaliers scored again in the top of the fourth. Saucke was hit by a pitch to start the fourth, advanced to second on a fielder's choice grounder, moved to third on a Godbout single, and scored on a sacrifice fly by freshman Harrison Didawick, who got the start in left field over Colin Tuft on Saturday. 

Duke got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Alex Stone reached base on a throwing error by O'Ferrall and the Blue Devils took advantage. Early retired the next two batters, but then Tyler Albright singled and Luke Storm hit a two-run double to left center field. Continuing the trend of the bottom of Duke's lineup producing offense, Damon Lux followed that up with an RBI double to the left field corner and suddenly, Virginia's lead had shrunk to 4-3. 

With Duke holding all the momentum, UVA's response in the top of the fifth was the pivotal moment that essentially determined the outcome of the game. After Duke reliever Aaron Beasley retired Ethan O'Donnell to start the inning, the Blue Devils replaced the lefty Beasley with right-hander Adam Boucher to face Jake Gelof. That ended up being a mistake. Gelof singled and Teel joined him on base after getting hit by a pitch. Boucher tried to go down and in with a 95 mph fastball and Ethan Anderson absolutely demolished it, clearing the entire balcony in right field and exiting the ball park for a three-run home run. 

After Saucke popped out, Anthony Stephan joined the home run party with a solo blast that reached the balcony over the UVA bullpen in right field, giving the Cavaliers an 8-3 lead. 

"The bottom of the fourth to the top of fifth was a big swing in the game," said Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor. "[Duke] did a nice job getting to Connelly and getting those three runs in the bottom of the fourth. I felt like the game was won when we responded in the top of the fifth. And that's what you have to do at this time of the year. There's gonna be difficult points in the game and you gotta delete it and put it past you and be ready for the next inning and we did that in the top of the fifth inning."

Connelly Early settled back in nicely after giving up three runs in the fourth, picking up two strikeouts in the fifth to retire the side. UVA scored two more runs in the top of the sixth as Jake Gelof once again came just a couple of feet away from a home run, instead doubling off the wall in left-center field to drive in both O'Ferrall and O'Donnell. Those were Gelof's 181st and 182nd RBI of his career, tying Steven Proscia for the most in UVA program history. 

With his pitch count rising into the 90s, Early gave up a pair of singles in the bottom of the sixth, but managed to get a couple of key outs to get out of the jam. Early remained on the mound in the seventh and pitched a 1-2-3 inning to put the finishing touches on a brilliant outing. In seven innings, Early gave up just three unearned runs on nine hits and recorded eight strikeouts. 

"Connelly Early was outstanding again," O'Connor said after the game. "Duke had a lot of opportunities and he buckled down and made the big pitches - just really proud of him."

Virginia had the game well in hand with a 10-3 lead, but the top of the eighth was a meaningful frame for the Cavaliers. Since May 20th, Jake Gelof had been stuck on 22 home runs for the season, tied with Brian Buchanan (1994) for the single-season program record. In game 1 on Friday, Gelof just barely missed the record on what would have been a walk-off three-run homer. With a runner on first in the eighth inning of a blowout, Gelof finally broke the record and accomplished that feat with a "no doubt about it" blast that cleared the bleachers in left field and nearly reached Klockner Stadium. 

The 442-foot bomb gave Gelof his single-season program record 23rd homer of the year and his all-time career program record 183rd and 184th RBI of his three-year UVA career. Gelof went 3 for 5 in the game with a home run, a double, and four RBI. 

"I understand that Jake Gelof broke some records today," O'Connor said after the game "I'm just so proud of him - he works incredibly hard. He's prepared every day that he shows up to the ballpark... The University of Virginia has had baseball for 120 years and this guy has the record. Who knows whether it'll ever be broken again, I don't know. But I'm so glad we'll have him for one more game."

And just for good measure, Casey Saucke added a two-run double to right center field to push the Cavaliers to 14 runs. Jack O'Connor took over in the bottom of the eighth and gave up an RBI single to Damon Lux, but was otherwise able to secure the final six outs with relative ease as Virginia secured the 14-4 victory to force a deciding game 3 on Sunday. 

The 14 runs scored by the Cavaliers were their most ever scored in a Super Regional game. 

"Today, I thought that we played magnificently in every facet of the game," said O'Connor. "Our team showed up today with a lot of enthusiasm, very focused, and very loose. They have a lot of confidence in each other and that's what it's gonna take in a winner-take-all tomorrow."

Virginia and Duke will face off in a winner-take-all game 3 on Sunday at 12pm. Right-handed pitcher Brian Edgington will start on the mound for the Cavaliers and right-hander Ryan Higgins will be the starter for the Blue Devils. 

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