The first 17 innings of the UVA Baseball road trip to Berkeley to face the Cal Bears made Freddy Krueger look like a Golden Retriever puppy.
Three miles from where the San Rafael and San Franciso bays merge, the ‘Hoos could hear Freddy screaming, “Welcome To My Nightmare.”
Game 1 was just a horribly played baseball game that the visiting ‘Hoos dropped 6-1, and innings one through eight of Game 2 offered minimal solace for fans in orange and blue. Needless to say, the boss was displeased.
“Candidly, I wasn’t real happy,” admitted UVA head coach Brian O’Connor. “We weren’t playing the type of infield defense we’ve been playing, and unfortunately, we gave some at-bats away.”
In that 17 inning, two-game span the Virginia numbers looked like this:
- Runs – 3
- Hits – 9
- Errors – 2
- Left on base – 17
- Hitting 9-58 (BA .155)
- K’s – 13
- BB – 8
The Bears fared better during that stretch, plating 13 runs, 24 hits, posted a .333 batting average, were fanned 14 times and collected four walks.
But in the top of the ninth of Game 2, things changed.
With Virginia trailing 7-2, O’Connor decided to give some of his newer players some time. “In the ninth inning, I shuffled a bunch of reserve players, in there and they kept getting hits and walks and built a big inning.”
In that ninth inning, the ‘Hoos scored eight runs on six hits, reached on two hit by pitch and a base-on-balls, staking UVA to 10-7 lead.
The inning proved to be a perfect example of one of O’Connors favorite sayings, “you never know which one. What I mean by that is, you never know which run you give up or don’t give up, that might make the difference.”
In the bottom of the frame, O’Connor went to Matt Lanzendorfer to turn out the lights. Lanzendorfer scuffled a little after fanning the leadoff hitter, giving up back-to-back walks and bringing the go ahead run to the plate. The left-handed hurler set pinch hitter Matthew Thomas down swinging to put the ‘Hoos one out away from a major comeback W.
That brought Cal leadoff hitter Jarren Advincula to the plate. The at-bat did not begin well for the UVA pitcher. Lanzendorfer tossed three consecutive balls, but got back into the count with back-to-back strikes to draw the count full. Advincula fouled off the next four pitches but landed the last one into left field and advanced the two free-pass runners – one scored, and the other landed at third.
Bear centerfielder Seth Gwynn came to the plate representing the tying run. Fortunately, his two-pitch at-bat ended with first baseman Henry Ford squeezing Gwynn’s pop fly for the final out of the contest.
“If you’re around this game long enough, you see things maybe you haven’t seen before,” O’Connor said. “We’ve had this happen before to us; it happened twice last year down in Miami against us. That was as good of a come from behind victory as I’ve seen in this program in 22 years. We’ve been searching a little bit for something to bring us together and a big marquee win. This was it.”
The big ninth inning guns for the UVA were freshman Chone James and sophomore Walker Buchanan. Both players went 2-for-2 in the ninth, and both had 2-RBI doubles in the frame.
O’Connor apparently liked what he saw, because those two players we in the starting lineup on Sunday.
“Back at the hotel [Saturday] night I was committed to finding a way to put Buchanan and Chone James in the lineup. I thought James swung the bat well, too, both last night in the ninth and today,” said the UVA skipper.
The big question following UVA’s 10-8 stunner was how the two teams would respond on Sunday. Virginia opened the game getting Eric Becker on with a single, but in what appeared to be a miscommunication between everyone, ended the inning with a botched stolen-base attempt by Becker.
The Bears took the lead in the first inning, and the ‘Hoos came up to bat down one.
It quickly became apparent that the Cavaliers bats were still hot. For the second time in consecutive games, Virginia scored eight or more runs in an inning. Henry Ford led off the hit parade in the second with a home run. James Nunnallee singled, but it was wedged between a Godbout ground out and a fly out by Buchanan.
The next seven hitters all reached base with two outs.
Jacob Ferrence singled, James got an RBI single to left, Aiden Teel smacked an RBI double down the right field line, Becker reached on a error that scored Teel, DH Chris Arroyo singled, Ford walked to load the bases and after fouling off five consecutive pitches, Godbout planted a grand slam over the left centerfield 365’ wall.
Overall, Virginia scored nine runs on seven hits and an error.
An inning later, Buchanan went yard for Virginia’s 18th run in their last three innings of baseball. The ‘Hoos would add an additional run in the seventh innings for the 11-5 final.
What a difference three innings can make. Saturday evening, the ‘Hoos were on the verge of losing the Cal series and possibly being a sweep victim. Thirty minutes into the second inning of Game 3, Virginia was up 9-1 and on its way to a 2-1 series win.
That had Coach O’Connor California Dreamin.’
“Our offensive approach across the entire lineup was outstanding. To have a game where nobody strikes out, and everybody in the lineup has a hit, we had some big home runs by Godbout, Buchanan and Ford. Really, one of the more complete baseball games we’ve played.”
Buchanan’s play over Games 2 and 3 was a big part of Virginia’s turnaround from Saturday. He went 3-for-6, including a home run, a double, scored two runs and delivered three RBI.
“He earned the opportunity (Saturday] in that ninth inning to start today,” says O’Connor. “Just really proud of Walker. He’s an aggressive hitter and this is about, when you get your opportunities you either take advantage of or you don’t, and he certainly did.”
Those nine runs were enough to give Evan Blanco some leeway en route to his first win of the season.
Blanco tossed five innings, his longest start of the season, surrendered three runs, (two earned). Stuck out four and did not allow a walk. He logged a K% of 68.3% of his pitches landing in the zone.
“I thought Evan Blanco, it was great to see him go out there and go five innings. I thought he had a high-quality start,” O’Connor noted.
The head coach was also pleased with the backend effort of Jack O’Connor.
“Jack O’Connor looks great at the end of the game. It was good to see him go multiple innings.”
O’Connor threw 2.1 scoreless innings, surrendered a hit, a walk and fanned two.
The ‘Hoos return to The Dish Wednesday night to face Richmond and begin a three-game ACC series with Duke on Friday night.
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