Matt Wyatt threw five scoreless innings in a surprise start, and Stephen Schoch closed things out with two and a third innings of scoreless relief, as Virginia kept its season alive again with a 3-2 win over South Carolina in the Columbia Regional on Sunday.
UVA (31-24) advances to face top seed ODU (44-14) tonight at 7 p.m.
South Carolina (34-23) had its 2021 season come to an end with the loss.
Wyatt (3-1, 3.86 ERA) had only started one game all season, a 10-2 loss to Liberty back on March 24, in which he didn’t even get out of the first inning, getting touched for five runs on four hits, a walk and two hit batters.
The sophomore looked like a shutdown guy Sunday afternoon, giving up two hits and walking one in his five-inning stint, while striking out eight.
The ‘Hoos got on the board in the bottom of the first on a Devin Ortiz RBI single. An Alex Tappen solo homer in the second and a Nic Kent RBI double in the third made it 3-0 Virginia, all off South Carolina starter Brannon Jordan (5-6, 4.78 ERA).
Jordan was lifted after giving up three runs on five hits in two and two-thirds innings. He struck out five Cavaliers and walked one.
The USC bullpen – Julian Bosnic and Daniel Lloyd – kept the UVA bats in check from there, allowing just two hits and walking two in five and a third innings of relief.
The Gamecocks would get closer in the middle innings. A Wes Clarke sixth-inning RBI groundout got South Carolina to 3-1, and a towering blast to left off the bat of Brennan Milone to lead off the seventh made it 3-2.
Virginia reliever Zach Messinger caught a break a little later in the seventh. After giving up an infield single to Braylen Wimmer and a solid single to right to Colin Burgess to put runners on first and second with nobody out, Joe Satterfield rifled a shot up the middle that Messinger was able to get a glove on.
The runners froze, thinking Messinger had caught the line drive, but the ball dropped, and eventually became a rare 1-5-6 double play.
Schoch relieved Messinger after he’d surrendered another sharp single to George Callil that put USC runners on first and third, and struck out Brady Allen on three pitches to end the threat.
After a 1-2-3 eighth, Schoch walked Milone to lead off the ninth, got Wimmer to hit into a fielder’s choice, then struck out Burgess and Scatterfield swinging to close out the game.
Story by Chris Graham
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