Resurgent Pitching Keys Virginia Baseball's Return to Super Regionals

In 2023, Virginia once again boasted one of the top offenses in the country, but the team's run to the College World Series was fueled by excellent outings from a pitching staff that had been good, but not great during the regular season. That pitching unit turned a corner in the NCAA Tournament, allowing just five total runs in the regional and then carried that momentum into a Super Regional series win over Duke to secure the program's sixth trip to Omaha.

One year later, a similar story is unfolding, but the turnaround has perhaps been even more drastic this time around.

The UVA bats have outdone themselves this year, shattering the program record for home runs, 114 and counting, a record the Cavaliers set just last year with 83 long balls. Virginia's current team batting average of .338 would break the program record of .333 set in 1985 and UVA is closing in on some other single-season hitting records: 550 runs (record: 582 in 2023) and 510 RBI (record: 533 in 2023).

But even with their batting lineup producing historic marks, the Cavaliers were finding themselves routinely held back by inconsistent performances from their pitching staff. In ACC play, Virginia surrendered 222 total runs in 30 games, averaging 22.2 runs allowed per series and 7.4 runs per game. Those stats include some particularly ugly pitching series, like when the Cavaliers allowed 37 total runs in three games against Georgia Tech, 33 to Miami, and 29 to Wake Forest in a series that Virginia managed to win thanks to its explosive offense.

It was the UVA bats that were largely responsible for Virginia still finding its way to the No. 4 seed in the ACC Tournament and hosting a regional as the No.12 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, as the Cavaliers entered postseason play with the No. 3-ranked scoring offense in the country.

But that offense certainly felt the pressure going into the tournament, knowing that with the state of the pitching staff, an average of at least eight runs were going to be needed in order for Virginia to win. With some quality pitching staffs coming to town for the Charlottesville Regional, namely Mississippi State's. that made the Cavaliers a prime pick to get upset in their home regional.

Instead, that trend was reversed. The UVA bats experienced something of a down weekend, scoring just four runs in the opener against Penn, five in Saturday's walk-off win over Mississippi State in the winner's bracket game, before finally erupting for six runs in the ninth inning to help seal the regional-clinching victory on Sunday.

That level of scoring production - 18 total runs in three games - wouldn't have been enough had the UVA pitching staff performed at its regular season level. Had the Cavalier arms not risen to the occasion, Virginia's season would likely be over.

But thanks to a somewhat out of nowhere renaissance from its pitching staff, Virginia's season continues.

“I’m excited. I can’t sit still. What our pitching did this weekend, and our defense, was awesome," UVA head coach Brian O'Connor said after Virginia defeated Mississippi State 9-2 on Sunday to clinch the Charlottesville Regional. "I told the team after the game, I’m as proud of this team as any team that we’ve coached here. And we pitched it the best that we pitched all year, at this time, and that just speaks to who they are.”

It started on Friday, as the Cavaliers opened the regional by riding a pair of excellent pitching performances from Elon transfer Joe Savino, who crucially emerged as a firm No. 2 in UVA's starting pitching rotation down the stretch, and Chase Hungate, a former transfer from VCU who gave Virginia two quality relief appearances out of the bullpen this weekend. Savino gave up two earned runs on only three hits and struck out eight batters in 5.2 innings of work and Hungate took the Hoos to the finish line, giving up only one hit and needing just 33 pitches to get through the final 3.1 innings to secure UVA's 4-2 victory over Penn.

“A lot has been made about our offense, and rightfully so. It’s one of the top offenses in the country. But this weekend, we had to do enough offensively [to win], and we were led by our pitching and defense," O'Connor said. "This time of the year you’re going to face great arms in the other dugout, so you’ve got to pitch great and you’ve got to play great defense, and it excites me for what we can potentially do moving forward.”

In the winner's bracket game on Saturday, Virginia's ace Evan Blanco did his job, allowing four runs (three of them earned) on eight hits and striking out seven in six innings pitched. UVA still trailed 4-2 when freshman Matt Augustin entered the game and he kept the Cavaliers in it with 2.2 scoreless innings. After the Cavaliers tied the game up at 4-4, Augustin ran into some trouble in the top of the ninth and O'Connor brought in one of the most experienced pitchers in college baseball to try to escape runners on the corners with two outs. Angelo Tonas needed just one pitch to get out of the jam, inducing an easy groundout to second that ended the inning and gave the Cavaliers a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth. Virginia took advantage and wound up walking off Mississippi State 5-4 in a thriller.

Of paramount concern for the Cavaliers was what they were going to do at starting pitcher beyond Evan Blanco and Joe Savino. Nine different pitchers other than Blanco and Savino had started games for Virginia during the regular season, but none had established himself as a reliable third starter. Former UVA quarterback Jay Woolfolk began the year as a starter, with three of his first four appearances of the year being starts, but struggles in his first two ACC starts resulted in him coming out of the bullpen for the rest of the season and struggling to find a rhythm.

Woolfolk and O'Connor had multiple meetings in his office over the next couple of months to discuss his role and how to best move forward. By the time the postseason began, O'Connor and Virginia pitching coach Drew Dickinson had decided that Woolfolk would be UVA's third starter, making his first start on the mound since March 17th.

Woolfolk rewarded their faith with the best pitching performance of his career.

“It was one of best outings we’ve ever had in my 21 years at Virginia in such a pivotal game,” O’Connor said. “Jay Woolfolk is going to have that for the rest of his life. When his team counted on him and he needed to step up, he pitched the best game that he’s pitched in our uniform in three years. And many years down the road, he’ll be able to reflect on that, and when he’s challenged in his life … he can reflect back on this opportunity he had tonight and remember what he did when everybody needed him most.”

Woolfolk pitched a career-high eight innings, registered a career-high seven strikeouts, and allowed only two earned runs on eight hits. He stranded four Mississippi State runners on base, including two in scoring position, and maintained UVA's one-run lead all the way to the ninth inning, when the Cavaliers finally put the nail in the coffin with a six-run frame.

“He’s got really electric stuff,” O’Connor said of Woolfolk. “He had some bumps in the road this year, but those bumps made him tougher and prepared him for the opportunity that he had tonight. And I just believed that he could get us off to a good start. But as the game started moving on in the middle innings, he was just determined. When he managed that inning with a runner on second base and no outs, I just kept feeling that we had something special here tonight.”

The weekend was filled with quality pitching performances for the Cavaliers, but none more impressive than Jay Woolfolk, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the Charlottesville Regional. He credited the support of his teammates and coaching staff for helping him deliver on the biggest stage.

"When you have teammates like these guys and you’ve got coaches like Coach Oak [Brian O'Connor] who believe in you, who keep throwing you out in those type of situations, you never lose confidence in yourself, no matter what goes on on that mound," Woolfolk said. "Without them I wouldn’t have the confidence that I had to go out there and execute like I did.”

“This is a dream come true, honestly,” Woolfolk said, “but we all know we’re not done yet. We’ve still got a whole ‘nother weekend to play to get to where we really want to get to.”

Woolfolk and the UVA pitching staff will look to sustain that momentum this weekend as the Cavaliers take aim at what would be a third trip to Omaha in the last four years for the program. No. 12 Virginia (44-15) is set to host Kansas State (35-24) in a best-of-three Super Regional series this weekend at Disharoon Park. Game 1 is set for Friday at 7pm, with game 2 following on Saturday at 3pm and, if necessary, game 3 starting on Sunday at 3pm, with all three games being televised on ESPNU.