The UVA Baseball team was two outs away from a weekend sweep at #21 Georgia Tech, but as has been the case a lot this season, the back end of the bullpen couldn’t close things out.
Evan Blanco, last season’s #1 starting pitcher, gave up a game-tying two-run homer to Drew Burress with one out in the ninth, then surrendered the walk-off solo blast off the bat of Kent Schmidt with two outs and nobody on in the 10th, in a 7-6 loss to the Yellow Jackets on Sunday.
The loss was the third this season in which Virginia (24-16, 11-10 ACC) had a two-run lead in the eighth or ninth inning.
Think about it: 27-13, 14-7 ACC looks a lot better right now than 24-16, 11-10 ACC.
A day earlier, Virginia clinched the series win with a 6-5 triumph that was thisclose to being another defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Starting pitcher Bradley Hodges got the win with an impressive seven-inning outing, allowing one run on two hits, striking out seven and walking two.
Georgia Tech (30-14, 15-9 ACC) got a run in the eighth and then three in the ninth off the UVA pen before Alex Marcus finally shut the door, striking out Kyle Lodise with a runner on second and two outs to end it.
On Sunday, starter Tomas Valincius had a solid outing, giving up three runs on five hits in six innings of work, striking out four and walking three.
Aiden Teel and Eric Becker homered in the Sunday game. Becker, Henry Ford and Harrison Didawick each went deep in the Saturday win.
The series win did wonders for the ‘Hoos in the RPI; at the beginning of the week, Virginia was 95th, but even with the dispiriting loss on Sunday, we’re up 23 spots, to 72nd.
Coming up this week: mid-week games at The Dish against VCU on Tuesday and Navy on Wednesday, with the weekend off for finals.
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Chris Graham
