Junior Chris Newell lined a single off the top of the right field wall with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 10th to plate the game-winning run in a 7-6 Virginia victory over Boston College on Friday at Disharoon Park.
No. 5 Virginia (17-1, 3-1 ACC) improved to 12-0 at home this season and extended its home win streak that dates back to 2021 to 15 games.
Kyle Teel led off the 10th inning with a walk and was moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Devin Ortiz. An intentional walk of the nation’s leading RBI man, Jake Gelof and a hit by pitch drawn by Alex Tappen loaded the bases with one out. Newell drove a 2-2 pitch that was a few feet of a grand slam and allowed to Teel to score with ease.
Reliever Will Geerdes earned the win on the mound, retiring all six batters he faced in the ninth and 10th innings.
Virginia and Boston College combined for eight home runs, seven of them solo shots. The Cavaliers hit four home runs in a game for the third time this season and second time in four games.
Boston College’s Parker Landwehr hit a go-ahead, three-run homer with two outs in the top of the eighth inning to make the score 6-5. It was the only time the Eagles (7-9, 1-3 ACC) led in the contest.
It took three batters in the bottom half of the eighth for UVA to tie the game. After leading off the inning with a single through the left side and moving to third on a double to right field by Jake Gelof, Ortiz scored the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Alex Tappen.
Freshman Casey Saucke went deep for the third-straight game and gave UVA a 2-0 advantage in the second inning. The long ball extended his team-best hit streak to 16 games.
Freshman Griff O’Ferrall, who reached base four times in the contest, hit his first collegiate home run to lead off the fourth. A batter later, Devin Ortiz left the yard and put Virginia up 4-1, its largest lead of the afternoon.
Sophomore Kyle Teel responded to a Barry Walsh solo shot in the top of the fifth with a 440-foot blast off the scoreboard in right field in the bottom half of the frame. The homer was Teel’s fourth of the season.
Virginia starting pitcher Nate Savino delivered his third-straight quality start, pitching into the seventh inning. He struck out eight batters and walked one in the no-decision. The home run that he surrendered in the third inning was the first batter reach second base against him in 13 innings.
Postgame: Virginia coach Brian O’Connor
“That was a tremendous college baseball game. The fans that were here that had the opportunity to watch that game, boy, that’s what ACC baseball is right there. Two really great teams. It was a very offensive day, the wind was blowing out and anything hit up in the air had a chance to go out of the ballpark. I was proud of our guys. Boston College did a terrific job coming in taking the lead in the top of the eighth inning. We scratched a run across to the bottom of the eighth and for me Will Geerdes, our closer, came in and having the two shutout innings to give us a chance to win in the bottom of the 10th was awesome. (Chris) Newell came through and it was a total collective team effort. I told the team after the game, this is ACC baseball. For half the team that hasn’t played at this level and played in this program and played in this league, this is what more of (the games) are like than (as opposed) to the games we played so far this year. They need to get used to it and it’s about executing and performing the clutch.”
The series continues on Saturday with the second of a three-game set. The Cavaliers will have lefthander Brian Gursky (4-0) on the mound and he will be righty Sean Hard (0-1). First pitch at Disharoon Park is set for 4 p.m.
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