Virginia Strikes Early, Rides Strong Pitching to Beat Duke 7-3 and Even Series

Matt Newton | Mar 30, 2024

Evan Blanco delivers a pitch during the Virginia baseball game at Duke. / Virginia Athletics

Having a short memory is one of the main keys to success in baseball. The Cavaliers quickly forgot Thursday's game 1 defeat, in which they trailed by as many as six runs and managed only five hits in a 9-4 loss to the Blue Devils, and did essentially the exact opposite in game 2 on Friday.

No. 9 Virginia (22-5, 7-4 ACC) got off to a strong start on the offensive end and leaned on solid pitching performances from Evan Blanco and Chase Hungate to even the series with a 7-3 victory over No. 11 Duke (19-8, 5-6 ACC) on Friday evening in Durham.

UVA matched its run total from the series opener by the second inning, posting four runs in the second frame to seize control early. Henry Ford, Harrison Didawick, and Jacob Ference hit three-consecutive singles to start the inning. Ethan Anderson scored Didawick with an RBI groundout, Eric Becker brought home Ference with a double down the right field line, and Griff O'Ferrall delivered an RBI single to bring in Becker.

Virginia stretched its least to 5-0 on an RBI double by Casey Saucke in the top of the third, but Duke got on the board in the bottom of the third on an RBI single from AJ Gracia. The Cavaliers kept their foot on the gas in the top of the fourth, as Henry Godbout hit a leadoff double and Becker joined him on base with a walk before Griff O'Ferrall brought home both with an RBI double to make it 7-1 Virginia.

UVA got a quality start from Evan Blanco, who had trouble in the first and third innings but surrendered only one total run in those two frames, and bounced back with relatively clean second and fourth innings. But the Blue Devils put some pressure on Blanco in the bottom of the fifth, as a single and a walk loaded the bases with two outs and sent Blanco from the game. Chase Hungate came in and gave up a two-run single to Alex Stone, but then closed out the inning with Virginia still leading 7-3.

After getting off to a hot start, the UVA bats cooled off as the Duke bullpen held the Cavaliers without a baserunner for the final four innings of the game. Fortunately for Virginia, Chase Hungate was dialed in and needed no further run support. Hungate retired the Blue Devils in order in the seventh and eighth and then worked around a leadoff double to post another zero in the eighth. Another 1-2-3 inning followed for Hungate in the bottom of the ninth to seal Virginia's 7-3 victory, giving Hungate his second win of the season.

Early offense, great defense and lights out bullpen work lead the Cavaliers to a game ✌️ victory.

📝 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗔𝗣 & 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦 🎥

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) March 30, 2024

Griff O'Ferrall led the way offensively for the Cavaliers, going 2 for 5 with three RBI. Chase Hungate gave up just two hits and zero earned runs in 4.1 innings of work and Evan Blanco surrendered three earned runs in 4.2 innings. Using just two pitchers in the game 2 victory, Virginia will have most of its bullpen at its disposal in the series finale on Saturday.

Virginia and Duke will decide the series in game 3 on Saturday at 1pm on ACC Network Extra. Kevin Jaxel will start on the mound for UVA and Andrew Healy will get the start for Duke.