Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
No. 21 Virginia Dominates Louisville 15-5 to Take Series Opener
Virginia's efforts to finish strong in the final two weeks of the regular season got off to a great start on Friday night as the Cavaliers delivered one of their best all-around performances of the season. UVA got a superb start on the mound from Nick Parker, flashed the leather with some great defensive plays in the field, and the Wahoo bats exploded for 15 runs on 16 hits as No. 21 Virginia rolled to a dominant 15-5 victory over Louisville to open the series on Friday night at Disharoon Park.
The Cavaliers were strong in all phases of the game on Friday night, beginning in the field as freshman left fielder Harrison Didawick made a leaping grab at the wall to rob Louisville leadoff batter Christian Knapczyk of an extra base hit to start the game.
Ethan O'Donnell made a similar leaping catch in right-center field to potentially save a run in the fourth inning. UVA also turned a couple of inning-ending double plays in the second and third to help Virginia starter Nick Parker face the minimum of nine batters through the first three innings of the game.
Parker was put in a comfortable position on the mound right away as the Virginia offense scored early and often. As would become a trend throughout the game, the Cavaliers used a two-out rally to jump on the board in the bottom of the first inning. Jake Gelof and Kyle Teel each drew two-out walks to extend the inning and then Ethan Anderson brought them all in with a crushing three-run bomb over the wall in right field, his ninth homer of the season.
Jake Gelof followed that up in the third inning with a two-run blast that cleared the clubhouse - also known as "Jake's House" - in left center field to reach the 20 home-run mark for the second season in a row. Gelof is now up to 79 RBI on the season and 45 career home runs, distancing himself at the top of UVA's all-time leaderboard in that category.
Virginia blew the game wide open in the bottom of the fifth thanks to another two-out rally. Ethan O'Donnell drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second base, but was still stuck there as the next two Cavalier batters were retired. Anderson then delivered another hard-hit ball, this time roping one down the right field line for an RBI double, tying the UVA single-season doubles record with his 23rd double of the year. Anthony Stephan came up and hit a grounder straight up the middle to score Anderson from second. Next to the plate was Henry Godbout, who hit his third homer of the season - and Virginia's third home run of the game - a three-run shot to left center field to get the Cavaliers to 10 runs.
Harrison Didawick nearly made it back-to-back homers, but his long hit to left field bounced off the wall for a double to keep the inning going. O'Ferrall then blooped a single into center field for an RBI and O'Donnell, who began the inning with a walk, brought in another run with deep fly ball to left center field that Louisville center fielder Eddie King Jr. couldn't quite squeeze at the warning track. All told, Virginia scored seven runs on five hits, all with two outs, to seize total control of the game with a 12-0 lead.
"I think 11 or 12 of our runs were scored today with two outs and that's the kind of competiveness and toughness and finishing off innings that it takes to win games in this league," said UVA head coach Brian O'Connor after the game.
Although he hit a batter to start both the fourth and fifth innings, Nick Parker did well to retire the next three Louisville batters in order in both cases to keep the Cardinals off the board. Parker surrendered a single and another hit-by-pitch in the sixth, but worked around those two baserunners to retire the side.
Virginia tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth as Teel hit a leadoff double and a couple of groundouts from Anderson and Casey Saucke brought him home to make it 13-0.
Parker's brilliant outing came to an end in the seventh as he gave up three-consecutive singles to load the bases with no outs. He struck out the next batter looking, but was then lifted from the game and received a well-deserved ovation from the packed crowd at Disharoon Park as he exited the field. Virginia inserted Bradley Hodges, who gave up an infield RBI single and then another RBI single through the left side, but managed to get out of the inning with no further damage. Both of those runs were charged to Parker, who finished with a final statline of 6.1 innings pitched, giving up two earned runs on five hits and striking out five. It was a fantastic performance for Parker, who made his first Friday start since taking a line drive to the head against Florida State back on March 24th. After a two-week recovery, Parker returned to the mound, but had been pitching on Saturday game 2s for the Cavaliers until this weekend.
"Nick Parker gave us a great start tonight," O'Connor said of the UVA starter. "He's been excellent in his last two starts - Duke and then tonight. That's what we need. We need guys to go out there and command the game and give our offense a chance to get going."
UVA answered with a run in the bottom of the seventh, as O'Ferrall skied a fly-ball that Louisville right fielder Isaac Humphrey lost in the lights. The ball landed ten feet behind Humphrey, allowing O'Ferrall to reach third base. A sacrifice fly from O'Donnell was deep enough in center field to score O'Ferrall from third.
After Hodges tossed an easy 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, the Cavaliers added one more run for good measure as Colin Tuft singled to right field, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and came around to score on a base hit from Penn transfer Tommy Courtney, who recorded just his second hit of the season and his first in ACC play.
Hodges remained on the mound in the ninth and, although he gave up an RBI double to Haven Mangrum and a two-run single to Ryan McCoy to surrender three runs, he managed to retire the side to end the game, crucially allowing the Cavaliers to use just two pitchers to earn the 15-5 victory in the series-opener.
Virginia recorded nine extra base hits in the game as compared to just one for Louisville. Griff O'Ferrall went 4 for 5 with three runs scored, Henry Godbout was 3 for 4 with three RBI, and Ethan Anderson went 2 for 4 with four RBI.
The victory improves Virginia to 39-11 overall and 14-11 in ACC play. UVA will look to clinch its first ACC series win since sweeping Miami back in early April when the Cavaliers face the Cardinals in game 2 on Saturday at 4pm at Disharoon Park.
To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:
Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN
See more Virginia baseball news and content: Virginia Baseball on Sports Illustrated
See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated