Virginia Blows Nine-Run Lead, Drops Game 2 at Miami 16-12
It's difficult to imagine a more painful way for a team to lose its first series of the season. After blowing a 4-0 lead in game 1 on Friday, the Cavaliers had a similar experience in game 2, except much, much worse.
Virginia (12-3, 0-2 ACC) used a pair of four-run innings to take a seemingly insurmountable 12-3 lead into the seventh inning, but the Cavalier bullpen again failed to get the job done, as Miami (9-5, 2-0 ACC) scored six runs in the seventh and seven runs in the eighth in a furious rally to take game 2 by a score of 16-12 and clinch the series on Saturday night in Coral Gables.
The first two-thirds of the game were all Virginia as the Cavaliers scored one in the first on a Casey Saucke sacrifice fly and three more in the third on a Henry Ford RBI single and a two-run home run for Harrison Didawick, who homered for the fourth-straight game.
Miami answered with three runs off of Evan Blanco in the bottom half of the third, but the Cavaliers had more coming with four runs in the fourth on an RBI single by Saucke and then another homer by Didawick, this time scoring three runs in the process.
Four more runs came in the following inning with Luke Hanson singling to score Ethan Anderson, Griff O'Ferrall hitting a sacrifice fly, and Henry Ford hitting Virginia's third home run of the night.
With the exception of the three-run third, Evan Blanco was exceptional, giving up just those three earned runs on seven hits and striking out six batters in five innings of work. Jack O'Connor replaced him in the sixth and picked up a pair of strikeouts in a 1-2-3 inning, sending the game to the seventh inning with UVA still in complete control leading 12-3.
Then the train went off the tracks.
Kevin Jaxel started the seventh and got only one out and gave up a pair of RBI singles before being replaced by Chase Hungate, who gave up two RBI singles and an RBI double, capping a six-run inning for the Hurricanes to make it a game again with the lead cut to 12-9.
Still having a more than reasonable chance to secure the win, Brian O'Connor went to trusty closer Aidan Teel in the eighth. Teel's outing started well enough as he retired the first two batters he faced, but then gave up back-to-back doubles to spark a two-out rally. He walked the next three batters, bringing another run home, and then gave up a grand slam to Blake Cyr, giving Miami the lead. And just for good measure, Ryan Osinski came in to replace Teel and gave up a solo home run to the first batter he faced before finally getting the Cavaliers out of the nightmarish eighth inning that saw the Hurricanes score seven runs to turn a three-run deficit into a 16-12 lead.
Virginia's bats, which had put up 12 runs on 17 hits to that point in what should have been a winning effort offensively, went quietly in the top of the ninth as the Canes took the game and the series.
Every Cavalier in the starting batting order recorded a hit in the game, headlined by Bobby Whalen going 4 for 6, Henry Ford going 3 for 4 with three RBI, and Harrison Didawick going 2 for 5 with two home runs and five RBI. UVA also got a good start out of Evan Blanco that should have resulted in a win, but his strong outing and Virginia's explosive offensive showing were both wasted by a disastrous effort from the UVA bullpen.
Having lost back-to-back games, and now eight in a row on the road at Miami, Virginia will look to end that losing skid and avoid the sweep in game 3 on Sunday at 1pm.
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