Virginia Throws Combined Two-Hit Shutout in 1-0 Win Over Bellarmine in Season-Opener

The Cavaliers blanked the Knights in the season-opener on Friday

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

Virginia's bats were a little cold in the 2022 college baseball season-opener. The Cavaliers managed six hits and only one run against Bellarmine. 

Fortunately for the Wahoos, their arms were plenty warm, as Brandon Neeck, Will Geerdes, and Matt Wyatt combined to throw a two-hit shutout and UVA defeated Bellarmine 1-0 on Friday in Boiling Springs, North Carolina. 

Brandon Neeck made his first career start on the mound and had a no-hitter going into the fifth inning. Had the UVA bats given Neeck some run support, he could have gone much deeper into the game as his pitch count was in the 50s in the fifth inning. 

Virginia's lone run came in the second-inning, as Jake Gelof hit a double to score Chris Newell from second base. The Cavaliers stranded six runners in scoring position in the game. 

In the top of the fifth, Neeck hit back-to-back batters and allowed his first hit of the game on a single to load up the bases. Despite a low pitch count of 57, Brian O'Connor pulled Neeck and brought in Will Geerdes. Neeck exited the game with a statline of four and a third innings pitched with four strikeouts and one hit allowed. 

Geerdes, a grad transfer from Columbia, was faced with some challenging circumstances in his first appearance in a live collegiate game since March 2020. With the bases loaded and one out, Geerdes needed only three pitches to get out of the jam. He threw two strikes and then the batter hit into an inning-ending double-play, as freshman shortstop Griff O'Ferrall, second baseman Max Cotier, and first baseman Devin Ortiz turned the double play. 

Geerdes stayed on the mound and was lights out, throwing three and two-thirds scoreless innings and allowing only one hit in the process, getting Virginia into the ninth inning with that 1-0 advantage. 

Virginia brought on junior Matt Wyatt in the ninth to close it out. Wyatt made quick work of the Knights in the top of the ninth to clinch the season-opening victory. 

With the win, Virginia improves to 14-5 in opening day games in Brian O'Connor's tenure at UVA. The Cavaliers continue to play in the Jerry Bryson Classic against the host school Gardner-Webb on Saturday at 3pm. Junior lefty Nate Savino will start on the mound for the Hoos. 

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