#8 Virginia rallies from late deficit, salvages finale at Miami with 14-11 win

Eighth-ranked Virginia finished a not-good weekend in Miami with a wild 14-11 win, rallying from a late deficit with a game-tying homer from Casey Saucke in the eighth, then getting an RBI single from Henry Ford and a two-run double from Harrison Didawick in the ninth.

But even with a three-run cushion, Jack O’Connor, the opening-day starter for UVA coach Brian O’Connor who was relegated to the bullpen after a run of rough starts, had to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth.

This, a day after the ‘Hoos blew a 12-3 seventh-inning lead in a 16-12 loss.

Virginia also blew a late 5-3 lead in a 6-5 loss on Friday night in the series opener.

All told, it wasn’t a great week on the mound for Virginia (13-3, 1-2 ACC), which defeated Penn State, 6-3, on Tuesday, before traveling to George Washington on Wednesday, giving up 12 runs in a 26-12 win.

In the series finale in South Florida, Jay Woolfolk (1-0, 8.14 ERA), staked to an early 4-0 lead, didn’t get out of the fifth, getting chased as the ‘Canes were putting up a four-spot to tie the game at 6-6.

Woolfolk’s final line: six runs on seven hits in four and a third innings, six strikeouts, three walks, two wild pitches, one hit batter.

Virginia responded with four runs in the top of the sixth, on a two-run from Ford and a two-run homer from Saucke, but Miami got two of those back in the bottom half of the sixth, on an RBI double off the bat of Dorian Gonzalez, who later scored on a wild pitch.

Miami took the lead in the seventh, getting a solo homer from Lucas Costello and a two-run shot from Cyr to go up 11-10.

Saucke’s second homer of the day, and sixth of the season, tied the game at 11-11 in the eighth, ahead of the three-run rally in the ninth.

Matt Augustin (1-0, 3.68 ERA) got the win for Virginia with one and two-thirds innings of two-hit scoreless relief, striking out three and walking one.

O’Connor notched his first save with his shaky ninth.

Virginia returns home for a mid-week game on Tuesday with William & Mary, ahead of welcoming top-ranked Wake Forest to Disharoon Park for a three-game series that begins on Friday.