Jay Woolfolk was lights out, holding Miami to an unearned run in six innings of work, to key the UVA Baseball team to a 6-1 win on Friday night at The Dish.
“I thought Jay was really good. He grinded. You know, it wasn’t, you know, he had a lot of traffic every inning, it seemed like, you know, and his pitch count ran up there, but he battled, made big pitches with runners in scoring position, and managed all those innings. That was great to see,” ‘Hoos coach Brian O’Connor said of his senior ace.
Woolfolk (3-2, 4.55 ERA, 1.37 WHIP) struck out seven, walked three and allowed three hits.
The bullpen was solid in making his effort hold up, with lefty Matt Buchanan (2.77 ERA, 1.31 WHIP) getting both of the batters that he faced in the seventh, and righty Alex Markus (3.60 ERA, 1.80 WHIP), with a fastball touching 96 mph on the gun, striking out three in two and a third innings of scoreless relief.
“Alex Markus has been pitching really, really good for us for about three weeks. That’s been a really bright spot for us, and he certainly charged the mountain tonight, and everything was working for him,” O’Connor said.
Markus, a sixth-year senior who pitched for four years at D3 Roanoke College and spent 2024 at William & Mary, has a 2.25 ERA and 0.50 WHIP over his last three outings, with six Ks in four innings of work.
The lineup staked Woolfolk to an early lead with a three-run first, on RBI singles from Henry Ford, Henry Godbout and Harrison Didawick off Miami starter Griffin Hugus (5-5, 3.93 ERA).
The ‘Canes got a run back in the third on an RBI double from Max Galvin.
A solo shot an inning later off the bat of Luke Hanson got the lead back to three, and Didawick added insurance with a two-run blast that left the ballpark in right-center in the eighth.
That one was the fifth homer of the season for Didawick, who had 23 homers a season ago, but has struggled mightily at the plate in 2025 – with a .209 batting average and .583 OPS, down from the .292 batting average and 1.056 OPS he put up a year ago.
In his last six games, Didawick is hitting .333 with two homers, six RBIs and a 1.052 OPS.
The win gets Virginia to 28-16 overall, 12-10 in ACC play, with an RPI still uncomfortably at 68, with the regular season winding down.
“We know what’s in front of us. We know what we need to do,” O’Connor said. “We know we can’t take any game for granted, and we’ve got to come out and ready to play every ballgame that we have left in this regular season. And you know, hopefully we can repeat that again tomorrow.”
Bradley Hodges (2-1, 1.21 ERA, 0.90 WHIP) gets the ball for Virginia in Game 2, with a scheduled 4 p.m. ET start.
All-World UVA swimmer Gretchen Walsh throws out the first pitch.
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Chris Graham
