Olivia Taylor/Virginia Athletics
No. 7 Virginia Holds Off Pittsburgh to Win Series Finale 8-5
With bases loaded in the ninth inning, the Panthers threatened to hand the Cavaliers a third-straight loss. But Jay Woolfolk maintained his composure and got the final outs to secure a crucial win for UVA. After losing a couple of frustrating games on Friday and Saturday to cede the series, No. 7 Virginia got back on track behind a solid outing on the mound from Jack O'Connor and some timely offense in the later innings to win the series finale 8-5 against Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon at Disharoon Park.
For the first time all season, true freshman Jack O'Connor took the mound in the Sunday game with the goal of leading the Cavaliers to their first victory of the weekend. In most of O'Connor's game 3 appearances this season, the only thing at stake was whether UVA would complete the series sweep or not. Things were a little shaky in the first couple of innings, but O'Connor eventually settled in and delivered one of his strongest performances of the season.
After O'Connor worked around a single and a walk in the top of the first, Virginia had a great opportunity to set the tone in the bottom half of the inning. Griff O'Ferrall and Ethan O'Donnell started things off with a pair of base hits to give UVA runners on second and third with no outs. Jake Gelof grounded out and then Kyle Teel was intentionally walked to load the bases. Pitt starter Kyle Mosley got himself out of the jam as he got Ethan Anderson to ground into an inning-ending double play.
CJ Funk hit a solo home run to right center field to put Pitt up 1-0 in the top of the second. O'Connor also gave up a triple to Caleb Sturtevant in that frame, but then recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning with no further damage. That sparked a nice run for O'Connor, who retired eight-consecutive batters and worked two-straight 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth.
UVA threatened again with a runner in scoring position in both the second and third innings, but the Cavaliers couldn't convert in either situation as Mosley continued to operate well under pressure. Finally, in the bottom of the fourth, Virginia managed to even the score thanks to some production from the bottom half of the lineup. Ethan Anderson hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on a walk from Anthony Stephan, moved to third on a fly out by Casey Saucke, and came home on a sacrifice squeeze bunt from Luke Hanson to make it 1-1.
Pitt threatened to go back in front in the fifth as Sturtevant drew a leadoff walk and a bunt and a wild pitch got him to third base, but a nice play in the field by Jake Gelof saved a run as he went home after fielding a grounder and his throw was in time to catch Sturtevant at the plate.
Virginia had another chance to do some damage in the bottom of the fifth as O'Ferrall and O'Donnell reached base on a single and a walk to chase Mosley from the game. Pitt brought in Jonathan Bautista, who weathered the storm and prevented the Cavaliers from taking the lead by getting Kyle Teel to ground into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.
O'Connor tossed a perfect sixth inning and then Virginia finally took its first lead of the game on a rally again started by the bottom half of the batting order. Ethan Anderson and Anthony Stephan hit a pair of singles to start the inning and Casey Saucke was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Luke Hanson hit a grounder to Bautista, who went home with the ball to prevent a run from scoring, but the bases remained loaded. Bautista then surrendered a run by walking Harrison Didawick on four pitches and Pitt replaced Bautista with Erubiel Candelario, who also walked in a run as Griff O'Ferrall drew a walk on five pitches. Candelario found the strike zone in the next at-bat, but Ethan O'Donnell roped a single to center field to score two runs, giving Virginia a 5-1 lead.
Pittsburgh got two runs back right away in the top of the seventh as UVA turned to its bullpen. Kevin Jaxel gave up a single and then a two-run home run to Justin Acal. Jaxel got the next two outs and then gave way to Evan Blanco, who gave up a ground-rule double, but got out of the inning with Virginia still holding a 5-3 lead. The Cavaliers got one run back in the bottom of the seventh as Ethan Anderson singled, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Stephan, and scored on an RBI single from Chris Baker.
After Blanco got the first out of the eighth inning, UVA brought on Jay Woolfolk with the objective of securing a five-out save. Woolfolk's outing got off to a rough start, though, as he walked the first batter he faced and then gave up a two-run blast to Kyle Hess and suddenly it was a 6-5 game. Woolfolk gave up another single, but then retired the next two batters to get out of the inning.
The top of the Virginia batting order provided some crucial additional run support for Woolfolk in the bottom of the eighth. O'Ferrall drew a leadoff walk and O'Donnell singled to reach base as well. Pitt called in Dylan Simmons, who struck out Jake Gelof swinging, but Kyle Teel then delivered a clutch hit that got to the wall in right center field for a two-run double, pushing the Virginia lead back to 8-5 entering the final frame.
As they did all weekend, though, the Panthers gave the Cavaliers plenty of trouble in the ninth. Jay Woolfolk got the first out fairly easily, but then gave up a walk, followed by a single, followed by another walk to load the bases and put the tying run on base. To Woolfolk's credit, he appeared unfazed by the sudden pressure and proceeded to strike out the next batter and then got Kyle Hess, who hit a two-run home run in his previous at-bat, to fly out to center field to end the game.
The game ball goes to Jack O'Connor, who earned his fourth victory of the season after giving up just one earned run on only three hits in six innings of work. Ethan Anderson went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and Ethan O'Donnell and Kyle Teel had two RBI apiece.
Virginia snaps its two-game losing skid and improves to 31-6 overall and 12-6 in ACC play. After playing eight games in the last ten days, UVA gets one day off before traveling to take on VCU on Tuesday at 7pm at The Diamond in Richmond. Virginia will then head to South Bend for a three-game series at Notre Dame.
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