Virginia loaded the bases with two outs against Miami closer Andrew Walters, but Walters was able to glove a hot shot off the bat of Kyle Teel to get the final out, preserving a 5-4 series-clinching win Saturday night.
The third-ranked Cavaliers (26-5, 9-5 ACC) loaded the bases with a lead-off single by Chris Newell, a two-out single from Max Cotier and a hit by pitch drawn by Griff O’Ferrall. That brought Teel, who was 4-for-5 with three grand slams with the bases loaded this season, to the plate.
Teel lined a 97-mph fastball back up the middle that took the glove off the outstretched hand of Walters, who recovered, made a wide throw to first that first baseman CJ Kayfus caught and dove back to first, tagging the base with his throwing hand just before Teel hit the bag.
No. 8 Miami (25-6, 12-2 ACC) extended their win streak to 12 games, the second-longest active streak in college baseball.
Prior to his appearance tonight, Walters had only surrendered three hits in 17.2 innings pitched this season. The righthander was credited with his ACC-leading 10th save of the year.
It was a back-and-forth affair all night.
Miami broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third with a two-out, two-run homer by Jacob Burke, his fifth of the season.
The Cavaliers responded with four runs in the top of the fourth after the first five batters of the inning reached base safely. Jake Gelof drew a bases loaded walk to open the scoring, and Alex Tappen followed with a three-run double to give UVA a 4-2 advantage.
Zach Levenson scored the next two Miami runs to tie the game up. In the fourth, he hit a solo shot to leadoff the fourth inning. In the sixth he singled with one out and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-4.
Yohandy Morales led off the seventh with his second home run of the series and seventh of the season, putting Miami in front 5-4.
After surrendering the home run, reliever Brandon Neeck struck out the final three batters of the seventh and two of the first three in the eighth to keep the game within reach. The lefthander worked around a hit and an error to strand a runner at third base in the eighth.
“It was a great college baseball game. We just have to be a little bit better,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “They’re a very, very good team, excellent team. There were just a few pitches we didn’t make. We had the big four-run inning and then and to their credit, couldn’t get anything off their bullpen. We had a chance there at the end, KT (Kyle Teel) squared one up and just couldn’t get it through but that’s baseball at this level and we’ve got a good opportunity tomorrow.”
The series will conclude on Sunday with the finale of a three-game set. UVA will have lefthander Jake Berry (4-0) on the mound and he will be opposed by Miami righty Alejandro Rosario (1-1).
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Chris Graham
