The exceedingly rare walk-off hit-by-pitch put Virginia back on the NCAA Tournament bubble with a 3-2 loss to North Carolina in the 2019 ACC Baseball Championship Wednesday night.
Devin Ortiz plunked Caleb Roberts with the bases loaded in the 10th inning to bring home the winning run for UNC (39-17), which remains alive in its bid to reach the knockout round of the tournament.
The Tar Heels face Miami (38-17) on Friday. The winner of that game will advance to the tournament semifinals on Saturday.
UVA (32-23) will face Miami on Thursday at 3 p.m. in a game that will not factor in to who advances further in the tournament.
Virginia would seem to be in need of a win to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
The ‘Hoos had entered the game ranked 43rd in the latest NCAA RPI ratings, and were listed as one of the last teams projected into the 2019 NCAA Tournament field by D1Baseball.com and Baseball America.
On Wednesday in Durham, Virginia made this one interesting late, getting a solo homer from Nate Eikhoff in the seventh and an RBI single from Brendan Rivoli to erase a 2-0 deficit and force extras.
Andrew Abbott (2-3) was charged with the loss, after putting in a solid effort in relief, going four innings, giving up two hits and walking three, striking out five, before being lifted after walking a batter in the 10th.
Story by Chris Graham
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Chris Graham
