Virginia continues to slide toward the NCAA Tournament, losing 3-0 Friday to Notre Dame to finish its visit to Charlotte for the 2022 ACC Tournament with an 0-2 record.
UVA (38-17) now awaits the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket on Monday. The ‘Hoos, once ranked as high as #2 in the national polls earlier in the season, almost certainly will be on the road for the opening weekend, after spending most of the 2022 season as a virtual lock to host a regional round.
Friday’s loss was the fifth in seven games for Virginia, which got out to a 26-3 start, and has been 12-14 since dropping the opener of a three-game series at Miami on April 8.
Nate Savino (5-6, 4.02 ERA) started on the mound for the Cavaliers and took the loss. Savino allowed two runs on one hit while walking one batter and striking out five in 4.2 innings.
Savino has gone 1-5 with a 5.23 ERA since giving up six runs on 10 hits in five innings in the April 8 loss at Miami.
Alex Tappen went 3-for-4 at the plate for Virginia in Friday’s loss, but timely hitting proved an issue for the Cavaliers.
Trailing 3-0 in the top of the eighth, Virginia loaded the bases with two outs, prompting Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett to summon righthander Sammy Cooper from the bullpen.
Cooper, who had pitched five total innings during the regular season, fell behind 3-0 to Devin Ortiz but battled back to coax Virginia’s No. 5 hitter into a groundout to second base for the final out of the half-inning.
Liam Simon (2-0, 5.25 ERA) allowed two hits and walked two in five scoreless innings, striking out eight.
Simon was making his fifth start of the season, and had logged just 19 innings across 13 appearances overall coming in.
Zack Prajzner drove in two of Notre Dame’s three runs with a second-inning RBI single and a sixth-inning sacrifice fly. Both plated David LaManna, who had two of the Irish’s eight hits. Jack Penney also collected two hits, including an RBI double in the fourth.
Aidan Tyrell worked a perfect ninth inning that include a pair of strikeouts to earn his first save of the season.
Story by Chris Graham
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