Cavaliers Now

Chris Newell Hits Walk-Off to Give No. 19 Virginia 7-6 Win Over Boston College

Newell delivered a hit off the right-field wall with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth to give the Cavaliers the win

Matt Newton

Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications

In the first ACC home series of the season, Boston College gave No. 19 Virginia its first test of the season at Disharoon Park and even led 6-5 in the eighth inning. The Cavaliers rallied to send the game into extra innings and then Chris Newell hit a long single off the right field wall with the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth to give UVA a walk-off 7-6 victory over Boston College on Friday evening at Disharoon Park.

Newell's hit in the bottom of the tenth fell just short of clearing the wall in right field for a grand slam, which would have been a fitting end to a game that was a home run derby from start to finish with the two teams combining to hit eight homers in the game. 

UVA struck first in the bottom of the first, scoring the first of just three runs that would be scored on non-home runs in the entire game. Griff O'Ferrall led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Devin Ortiz. 

The Cavaliers made it 2-0 on a solo home run to left center from Casey Saucke, who homered for the third consecutive game and the seventh time this season. 

The Eagles got on the board in the top of the third on a solo homer from Travis Honeyman, but UVA responded with a pair of home runs in the bottom half of the inning by Griff O'Ferrall, who hit his first-career home run, and Devin Ortiz to make it 4-1.  

Both teams registered solo homers in the fifth inning, as BC's Barry Walsh and UVA's Kyle Teel both went yard. 

Honeyman hit his second home run of the game to center field in the top of the sixth inning to make it 5-3. 

Nate Savino started on the mound for the Cavaliers and, with the exception of the three solo home runs, did a solid job against the Eagles. Savino went 6.1 innings, surrendering six hits and three earned runs and striking out eight batters. 

Savino was replaced by Jay Woolfolk in the seventh inning with a runner in scoring position and got the Hoos out of the jam without allowing a run. In the eighth inning, Woolfolk allowed two runners on a walk and a hit-by-pitch. Jake Berry replaced Woolfolk and got the second out of the inning, but then surrendered a three-run home run by Parker Landwehr to left field. 

Now trailing by one run in the bottom half of the inning, the meat of UVA's lineup came up and delivered the tying run. Devin Ortiz singled to start the inning and then Jake Gelof doubled to right field to move Ortiz to third. Alex Tappen flied out to right and that was deep enough to score Ortiz to tie the game. UVA did no further damage in the inning as Chris Newell and Casey Saucke grounded out to strand Gelof at third base. 

Both teams could not manage a base runner in the ninth inning and the score remained 6-6 heading into extra innings. Will Geerdes came in to pitch for UVA in the ninth and delivered back-to-back perfect innings in the ninth and tenth to keep things tied up. 

Kyle Teel drew a walk to start the tenth inning and advanced to second on a bunt from Devin Ortiz. Boston College wisely intentionally walked Jake Gelof and then Alex Tappen was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Chris Newell came up to bat and got almost all of 2-2 pitch, delivering the game-winning hit off the right field wall to score Teel and give Virginia the 7-6 walk-off victory. 

With the win, Virginia improves to 17-1 overall and 3-1 in ACC play. UVA and BC are set to play game 2 of the series on Saturday at 1pm at Disharoon Park. 

See more Virginia baseball news and content: Virginia Baseball on Sports Illustrated

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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