On March 28, the UVA Baseball team stood tied for 13th place in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 3-6 mark, facing a three-game home series against 20th-ranked Stanford. In what would begin an 18-6 (.750 win percentage) pathway to NCAA Tournament redemption, the ‘Hoos are now sixth in the conference standings and have the potential to move into the top four of the ACC Tournament if some very responsible situations break Virginia’s way this weekend. More on that later.
Coming off an impressive weekend against No. 13 NC State, the ‘Canes captured their 10th consecutive ACC win this season. It was Miami’s fifth consecutive league series victory. On the bump, the ‘Canes had held their last 10 opponents to a .241 batting average with 74 strikeouts.
Virginia set the pace for the weekend, taking down Hurricanes ace Griffin Hugus in Game 1, 6-1. Hugus entered the weekend having won four of his last five starts.
“Miami’s got really good pitching, and I’m just really proud of our guys,” said UVA head coach Brian O’Connor. “We fought them and hung in there and found a way at the end.”
The Miami offense came to life in Games 2 and 3, going into the ninth inning with a 9-8 lead in Game 2 and making a too-close-for-comfort comeback effort in Game 3.
ICYMI
- UVA Baseball: ‘Hoos finish off sweep of Miami with 8-6 Sunday win
- UVA Baseball: Cavaliers rally from early deficit, walk off Miami, 10-9
- UVA Baseball: Woolfolk, Didawick come up big for ‘Hoos in Game 1 win
No better example than UVA’s come from behind, walk-off win in Saturday’s tilt.
Down a run, Harrison Didawick opened the bottom of the ninth for UVA, blasted stud UM reliever Brian Walters’ 95 mph center-cut fastball, 109 mph into the centerfield scoreboard.
James Nunnallee walked, stole second, putting the tying run in scoring position.
“Certainly, Didawick’s home run was a big one, and Jimmy Nunnallee’s stolen base there with no outs was huge,” said O’Connor.
Luke Hanson grounded out to ‘Canes shortstop Jake Ogden, setting up leadoff man Aiden Teel for some game-ending fireworks. The Virginia centerfielder laced a hard ground ball in the 3-4 hole, and the speedy freshman came around to score the winning run.
“It was a total collective effort by our guys,” added O’Connor. “They’re very, very determined and playing with a lot of spirit.”
Didawick hit a key home run in the bottom of the eighth in Game 1 as well, giving the ‘Hoos a five-run advantage with two-run dinger to extend the UVA lead to 6-1. The Cavaliers leftfield called Saturday “a phenomenal day, a team win, and it was just great to get a series win and to go for the sweep tomorrow.”
The ‘Hoos did claim the sweep and improved to 14-10 in the ACC and 30-16 overall.
Statement made
The series win was clearly a statement win, as the ‘Canes are an exceptionally talented team and have been playing exceptional baseball over the last several weeks. The Virginia players were clearly excited about the series.
“Awesome,” claimed Didawick. “I don’t really have any words to describe it. It was just such a great game of pitchers doing their jobs, hitters did our jobs. Teel, Evan Blanco coming in the game and keeping it tight. I mean, just an unreal job. Brad Hodges had a really great start, just that one tough inning, and that’s baseball, it happens.”
Teel had much the same perspective on extending UVA’s winning ways.
“Yeah, it’s been awesome. Everyone’s just has their confidence, and their confidence is at an all-time high,” concurred Teel. “It’s a lot of fun, everyone’s having fun playing the game. You can look around, and everyone’s got a smile on their faces. Even when things aren’t going their way, but there’s no lead that can hold us. So, we’re ready to go! We’re excited.”
A big part of the ‘Hoos’ success over their last 20-plus outings is Teel and his role as Virginia’s leadoff hitter. O’Connor says Teel has made a significant difference for the team hitting in the spot.
“He’s been big for us in that spot,” explained the UVA skipper. “He plays the game with a ton of energy and emotion, and he comes ready to compete every day. Not only do you have a game-winning hit Saturday, he hit, but getting on base six times was big. In a game where there’s a lot of runs scored, he was taking his walks when he needed to. He got some big knocks for us. Just really, really proud of him.”
According to Henry Ford, the slow start and the adversity are a big reason why the club is playing so well right now.
“The adversity that we went through in the beginning part of the year was huge for us,” admitted Ford. “It drew us closer together and we’ve been in pretty much every situation possible. “We’re comfortable in those situations now, and we know what we can do. We’ve all been through this together, which I think is huge, and we’ve had to work through that. I think that been huge for us and why we’re on an uptrend.”
Blanco, who gave O’Connor and his teammates three and a third scoreless innings to keep the ‘Hoos in Game 2, says the team has a quiet confidence and an ability to deal with any situation.
“When we gave up the six runs that one inning, you know, there was a little bit of change in momentum, obviously, but no one stayed down,” Blanco said. “We kept the energy up great in the dugout. I went down to the bullpen, and the guys in the bullpen were locked in, so I knew whether my name was called or someone else’s, I knew that we were going to get the job done.”
What’s it all about? Winning. The ‘Hoos have won 18 of their last 24 games, 10 of their last 11 and four of their last five ACC weekend series.
“It’s great to see and fun to be around,” says O’Connor. “I feel like this is the Virginia baseball that we’ve been hunting for most of the year, and we’ve been playing that kind of baseball for the last couple of weeks.”
Looking forward to tournament time and NCAA time, the ‘Hoos are already in playoff mode, says Ford.
“It’s playoff baseball,” stated Ford. “We treat every series like a super-regional, every midweek’s like regional, it’s do or die, and you know, that’s how we’re playing. I think that that’s been big for us, and I think that’s going to help if we can keep it going and get into the playoffs, we’re going to have that type of experience going in there.”
Looking ahead
Playoff time is just around the corner, and the ‘Hoos have put themselves in a position to return to the NCAA Tournament. I was able to catch up with Kendall Rogers of D1 Baseball, and I asked him where he thought the ‘Hoos were at this moment.
“It’s my feeling that if Virginia wins the VT series on the road and finishes with 16 league wins, it will be in the NCAA Tournament field,” Rogers said. “I think a win or two in Durham could solidify things, but it’s hard to look at a team that talented, with 16 league wins, and go, They don’t deserve to be in the tournament. I do think a series loss to the Hokies could complicate things. That would likely mean the ‘Hoos need to go on a run in Durham. Not necessarily win the tourney, but at least go on a run to some degree.”
ICYMI
The playoff mentality of the last few weeks will serve UVA well over the next 10 days.
Coach O’Connor said on Friday he reminded the players about the winner go home mentality.
“That is that kind of how they’re treating it,” O’Connor said. “We’ve used this phrase for about three weeks now, playoff baseball and you know, when you’re in the playoffs, if you don’t win, you go home.”
“This is what we needed to do here at home on the final weekend,” he explained. “I think the biggest advantage is we’re not looking too far ahead. We’re in this mode of taking advantage of every opportunity that we have in front of us, and that’s what we’ve been doing for a couple of weeks, and this team’s playing like everybody thought, the kind of team that we would have.”
Virginia is actually setting in an exceptionally good position with respect to the ACCT. The Cavaliers currently sit in sixth place in the ACC standings. FSU leads the league and is currently the No.1 seed. NC State is second, Georgia Tech is third, and UNC is fourth. Duke is the fifth seed.
However, two of the five teams ahead of the Wahoos will lose two-plus games this weekend. Georgia Tech will be facing the Blue Devils in Durham, and UNC will be dealing with the Seminoles in Dick Howser Stadium. Two of the teams from these two series will lose two games or more, depending on the weather.
If UVA sweeps the Hokies, they will sport a higher winning percentage than a one-loss Duke or North Carolina. If the Jackets lose two games, the ‘Hoos will also have a win percentage advantage over GT. The Hoos can only tie FSU, and I’m not sure about the tiebreaker for that scenario. If the ‘Hoos go 2-1 in Blacksburg, they could still have a higher winning percentage than a two-loss Duke or two-loss UNC.
We’ll see how it all plays out, but these are very probable outcomes in the final week of regular season play.
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