Virginia Baseball Walks Off Mississippi State 5-4 to Advance to Regional Final

In each of their first two NCAA Tournament games, the Cavaliers have fallen well short of their usual offensive production, but have found ways to win and are now in the driver's seat of the Charlottesville Regional.

Another resurgent effort from the previously struggling UVA pitching staff and a couple of clutch two-run base hits by freshman Eric Becker kept the Cavaliers in it long enough for Harrison Didawick to hit a big-time leadoff double in the bottom of the ninth and then come around to score on a grounder from Bobby Whalen to give No. 12 Virginia (43-15) a thrilling 5-4 victory over Mississippi State (39-22) on Saturday night at Disharoon Park.

The win advances the Cavaliers to the regional final, where they'll have two chances to pick up the one win needed to book their ticket to the Super Regionals of the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Virginia starter Evan Blanco gave up singles in the first and second innings, but worked around them to put a couple of zeroes on the board to start the game. Mississippi State's starter, ambidextrous phenom Jurrangelo Cijntje, was largely a step ahead of the UVA batters, but it was the freshman Eric Becker who delivered the early blow, tripling to right-center field to score Jacob Ference and Henry Godbout.

Virginia's 2-0 lead was short-lived, as Blanco gave up back-to-back singles and then Hunter Hines blasted a three-run home run over the wall in right-center to put Mississippi State in front 3-2. A non-pitching miscue from Blanco resulted in another run scoring as his pickoff attempt sailed over Godbout's head at second base and into center field, allowing the speedy Bryce Chance to score from second to make it 4-2.

For the next three innings, it was the story of unfortunate bounces for Virginia and incredible fielding plays for Mississippi State, including a remarkable catch from the first baseman Hines, who made a catch in foul territory before flipping over the fence into his own dugout.

UVA managed just two baserunners from the third through the sixth innings, as Cijntje continued to puzzle this vaunted Cavalier batting lineup. Finally in the bottom of the seventh, Ference and Didawick opened the inning with a pair of singles and then Godbout bunted them to second and third. Becker came to the plate and showed he had another big postseason delivery in him, hitting a grounder up the middle for a game-tying two-run single.

Matt Augustin replaced Evan Blanco in the seventh and worked around some trouble in the next two innings to keep things tied, picking up a big strikeout to strand runners on second and third in the eighth. Augustin struck out two more batters to start the ninth, but then issued a walk and single to put the go-ahead run 90 feet from home plate for Mississippi State. As he has all season, Angelo Tonas proved to be the jam defuser, coming out of the bullpen and needing only one pitch to get Hines to hit a soft groundball to second to end the inning.

That gave the Cavalier bats the opportunity to end the game and they didn't miss it. Harrison Didawick, who remains just one homer away from breaking Jake Gelof's single-season home run record, came up a little short of what would have been a legendary walk-off home run, but still took a 1-2 pitch deep to the gap in left-center field and it one-hopped over the wall for a leadoff ground-rule double.

Two batters later, Indiana transfer Bobby Whalen swung at the first pitch he saw and bounced it up the middle to second base, where Mississippi State Amani Larry was unable to field it cleanly. He would've needed to turn a smooth double play to save the game, but instead the ball bounced away, allowing Didawick to score the game-winner from third and sending the packed crowd of 5,919 at Disharoon Park into a frenzy.

HOOS WALK IT OFF!!!!!!

📺: @accnetwork | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/xqxhwk8VN7
— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 2, 2024

Evan Blanco got a no-decision, but still pitched a solid game, giving up four runs (three of them earned), on eight hits and striking out seven batters in six innings of work. Matt Augustin gave UVA 2.2 excellent innings out of the bullpen and Angelo Tonas threw one big-time pitch. Together, those three players continued what has been a redemptive postseason performance for a Virginia pitching staff that struggled all through the regular season.

And so, despite the nation's third-best offense having so far scored four runs on six hits and five runs on eight hits in the first two games of the NCAA Tournament, Virginia finds itself 2-0 and in ideal position to advance.

The Cavaliers will await the winner of Mississippi State and St. John's (Sunday at 12pm) in the regional final. UVA will have two chances to clinch the Charlottesville Regional, the first of which will come on Sunday at 6pm at Disharoon Park.