JMU Rallies Late, No. 21 Virginia Holds on for Tense 9-8 Victory

The Dukes scored eight runs in the final three frames, but the Cavaliers managed to hang on for the one-run victory on Wednesday night

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

With the Cavaliers jumping out to an 8-0 lead and Connelly Early tossing six scoreless innings to start the game, it seemed UVA was well on its way to securing a comfortable win over JMU. 

Then the Dukes scored three runs in the seventh. Then three runs in the eighth. Then two more runs in the ninth and had the game-tying run on second base. Suddenly, preserving Virginia's undefeated non-conference record required a nervewracking sequence with Jay Woolfolk on the mound needing to get two outs to avoid blowing the save. 

Woolfolk got those two outs to save the game, but they were not guaranteed outs off the bat, as both Trevon Dabney and Kyle Novak got great contact on the pitches. Fortunately for Woolfolk and the Cavaliers, Dabney's deep fly ball to left field fell into Harrison Didawick's glove on the warning track and Novak's line drive was hit directly at Ethan O'Donnell, who secured the catch as No. 21 Virginia escaped with a 9-8 victory on Wednesday night at Disharoon Park. 

The Cavaliers got off to about as good of a start as they could hope for, putting up two runs in the first and four runs in the second inning to seize control early on. Ethan O'Donnell hit a single and Jake Gelof doubled to give UVA runners on second and third with one out in the first. A wild pitch brought in O'Donnell and then a Kyle Teel single scored Gelof. 

In the second inning, Anthony Stephan hit a leadoff single and Luke Hanson followed that up with a bunt single, before both runners advanced a base on a Harrison Didawick sacrifice bunt. Griff O'Ferrall scored Stephan with a groundout and O'Donnell brought Hanson home with single. Jake Gelof hit an RBI double down the left field line and then Teel hit his second RBI single 

Connelly Early gave up just two baserunners through the first four innings and worked around a single and a walk in the fifth to keep the Dukes scoreless. Virginia tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the fifth as Casey Saucke hit an RBI triple and then scored on a wild pitch. 

UVA's 8-0 lead lasted into the seventh inning as Early finished with an impressive statline of zero earned runs on five hits with six strikeouts in six innings of work. The Virginia bullpen did not match Early's success against the JMU bats. 

Chase Hungate hit the first batter he faced in the seventh and then Novak hit an RBI double down the left field line. Jason Schiavone followed that up with an RBI single into right field. Evan Blanco entered the game and gave up a single and then a sacrifice fly as JMU scored three runs in the inning to begin to apply some pressure on Virginia. 

UVA got one run back in the bottom of the seventh as Saucke, Stephan, and Hanson hit three-straight singles to load the bases and Griff O'Ferrall brought in one run with a sacrifice fly, but the Cavaliers couldn't capitalize any further. 

JMU scored three more more runs in the eighth, taking advantage of a throwing error from O'Ferrall which led to an RBI single from Novak and a two-run home run by Schiavone, which made it 9-6. UVA brought in Jay Woolfolk, who struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches to get the Cavaliers into the final inning. 

Woolfolk hit the first JMU batter of the ninth inning and an error from Gelof gave the Dukes second and third with no outs. A wild pitch from Woolfolk scored a run and then a groundout brought in another run to make it 9-8. Woolfolk then proceeded to issue back-to-back full-count walks to put the game-tying run on second base with just one out. Woolfolk got a lucky break on the next two batters, as Dabney missed out on a three-run home run by just a few feet and Novak got solid contact on a line drive that went directly at Ethan O'Donnell in center field to end the game. 

It wasn't the most convincing of victories for a Cavaliers team which has been struggling mightily in ACC play lately. But a win is a win, and this stressful victory improves Virginia to 37-11 overall and 24-0 in non-conference play. Now, UVA gets a much-needed weekend off for final exams and will be back in action next Wednesday against Radford at 1pm at Disharoon Park. 

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