Virginia, after a 30-4 start, has now lost five of its last seven, with Notre Dame completing a three-game weekend sweep with a pair of wins on Sunday.
The Irish (23-15, 11-10 ACC) completed the sweep with doubleheader sweep over No. 8 Virginia (32-9, 12-9 ACC), taking Game 1, 10-2 and holding on for a 5-4 victory in the nightcap.
GAME 1: Notre Dame 10, Virginia 2
Solo home runs by Carter Putz in the first inning and Jack Penney in the fourth inning helped Notre Dame jump out to a 4-0 advantage after the first four innings.
Virginia cut the Fighting Irish lead in half in the top of the sixth inning thanks a to a two-run homer by Anthony Stephan, his second home run of the season.
Notre Dame scored six unanswered runs over the next three innings to help clinch the series. The game was broken open by a three-run home run by Vinny Martinez in the bottom half of the sixth, one of four fighting Irish home runs in the contest.
Notre Dame starting pitcher Blake Hely tossed a season-high 7.1 innings, scattered six UVA hits and allowed just the two runs on Stephan’s long ball. Hely fanned eight batters and was credited with his second win of the season.
GAME 2: Notre Dame 5, Virginia 4
The Fighting Irish overcame a pair of deficits in game two and stranded the tying run in scoring position in the ninth inning.
The Cavaliers opened up the scoring in the first inning with a successful squeeze bunt off the bat of Harrison Didawick that allowed Ethan Anderson to score from third base. It was Didawick’s team-best, sixth sacrifice hit of the season.
The Fighting Irish evened the game in the bottom half of the second when Martinez scored on a sacrifice fly from DM Jefferson. An inning later, Notre Dame had its first lead of the day with a Carter Putz single to left center that scored Zach Prajzner.
Casey Saucke put Virginia back ahead with one swing of the bat in the fourth. The sophomore cleared the right field wall for an opposite field, two-run homer, his fourth home run of the season. Kyle Teel doubled home Griff O’Ferrall in the fifth inning to put Virginia up 5-3.
Notre Dame erased its final deficit by plating three unearned runs in the bottom half of the fifth. The go-ahead run came across on a two-run, two-out double by Martinez.
Saucke clinched his second two-effort hit of the day with a two-out double in the top of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate. The next batter, pinch-hitter Colin Tuft, was hit by a pitch putting the go-ahead run on first. Notre Dame reliever Caden Spivey induced a game-ending lineout to seal the victory. Spivey limited the Cavaliers to two hits over the final 4.1 innings to earn the victory.
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Chris Graham
