If ever a baseball team needed a three-game sweep, it was the UVA Baseball team this weekend.
Virginia closed out the weekend sweep of nationally ranked Stanford with a ninth-inning rally that sent Saturday’s game to extras, then walked off the Cardinal on an RBI triple from Aiden Teel in the 10th to win, 9-8.
The ‘Hoos (15-11, 6-6 ACC) had lost five straight coming into the series with Stanford (16-9, 5-7 ACC).
Now, OK, it wasn’t the prettiest sweep you’ll ever see in the scorebook.
UVA won the opener, 11-8, on Thursday, breaking the game open with a five-run sixth to push Jay Woolfolk (2-2) to the win.
Woolfolk gave up four earned runs in six innings, striking out five, walking one and surrendering five hits.
The bats and the bullpen bailed out Friday’s starter, Tomas Valincius, who was chased after four rough innings in which he was tagged for five runs on nine hits.
The ‘pen trio of Wes Arrington, Matt Buchanan and Jack O’Connor held Stanford to a single run on three hits in the final five innings, as the offense rallied from an early 5-0 deficit, breaking Game 2 open with a six-spot in the seventh.
Virginia fell behind early again in Game 3, as Stanford jumped out to a 4-0 lead through two and a half innings off the third weekend starter, Evan Blanco, who would end up going five innings, giving up the four runs, two earned, on nine hits.
UVA trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the ninth, but got the margin to 8-7 on an RBI infield single from Eric Becker, and a two-out, two-strike RBI single from Henry Godbout.
Buchanan pitched out of a two-on, one-out jam in the top of the 10th.
Freshman James Nunnallee singled to lead off the bottom of the 10th,
Stanford reliever Trevor Moore struck out Chone James and got Luke Hanson on a pop-up.
Teel tripled to right on a 1-0 pitch for the walkoff and the sweep.
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Chris Graham
