Home #1 UVa. beats #14 Miami, solidifies top seed in ACC Tourney
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#1 UVa. beats #14 Miami, solidifies top seed in ACC Tourney

Chris Graham

Edited by Chris Graham
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The #1 Virginia baseball team capped off its regular season with a 7-4 victory at #14 Miami Saturday afternoon at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. UVa clinched the outright ACC Coastal Division title and finished off its ninth ACC series win of the year.

The Cavaliers (45-10, 23-7 ACC) finish the ACC schedule with their most conference wins ever. UVa also posted its second series win ever over Miami. Virginia will be the No. 1 seed in the upcoming ACC Baseball Championship, which is slated for next Wednesday through Sunday at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C. It marks just the second time UVa will hold the top seed (1985). Brackets for the event will be announced Sunday.

Virginia’s pitchers bent but did not break through several jams Saturday. UVa pitchers stranded 14 Miami runners on base, including seven in scoring position. Miami (39-15, 20-10) left seven runners on base in the first three innings alone.

Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.) worked five innings and allowed two earned runs, four hits and a career-high five walks while striking out seven. Hultzen (8-1) struggled with his control throughout but consistently battled out of trouble while stranding nine runners. UVa got 2.2 key innings of relief from Justin Thompson (So., Danville, Va.) before Kevin Arico (Jr., Flemington, N.J.) got the final four outs to notch his 15th save, setting the Virginia single-season record.

David Gutierrez (4-1) took the loss for Miami after allowing five runs (four earned), seven hits and three walks with six strikeouts in five innings.

Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.) and Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) each had three hits for Virginia, which finished with 11 base hits.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].