Virginia took control with a four-run sixth, then held on through a shaky ninth to complete a 6-4 win over Duke on Wednesday at the 2026 ACC Baseball Championship in Charlotte.
The win advances the ‘Hoos (36-20, RPI: 23) to a quarterfinal matchup with the tournament’s top seed, Georgia Tech (45-9, RPI: 2).
That game was originally slated to begin at 3 p.m. ET, but because of forecast inclement weather, it has been moved up to an 11 a.m. ET first pitch.
Virginia and Duke (26-31) didn’t meet in the 2026 regular season, so, this one was the only chance for first-year UVA coach Chris Pollard to meet up with the program that he had led to 420 wins over a 13-season run that included four trips to the Super Regionals.
One of the guys that he brought with him from Duke, Henry Zatkowski, his ace, was stellar – two runs on six hits in six innings, four Ks, no walks, 81 pitches.
Pollard then got an inning of scoreless relief from his #3 starter, Kyle Johnson – a strategic move, guaranteeing that Johnson will at least get some work in this week, no matter what happens on Thursday.
That means we know we’re going to see freshman John Paone get the ball to start the Georgia Tech game.
Because Johnson only went one inning and 20 pitches, we could see him get an inning on Thursday, if needed in a leverage situation.
Closer Tyler Kapa struggled, walking two in the eighth before pitching out of that jam, then giving up a two-run homer to Tyler Albright in the ninth before being lifted in favor of the overused Lucas Hartman.
Hartman got both of the batters that he faced, but it still felt white-knuckle to me.
Jake Weatherspoon was 2-for-4 with a tie-breaking RBI single in the big sixth inning, and a solo homer in the eighth that provided some needed insurance.
Zach Jackson, another Duke transfer, was 1-for-3 at the plate – the one being a two-run triple that put a cap on the four-run sixth – and he threw out a runner at the plate to end the Duke fourth.
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Chris Graham
