Virginia Suffers Costly Loss to Florida State at ACC Baseball Championship

The Cavaliers fell to the Seminoles 13-3 in eight innings on Wednesday in Charlotte

Matt Newton | May 25, 2022

Photo courtesy of Laura Wolff/ACC Baseball

Virginia's stay in Charlotte this week will be brief. The Cavaliers were eliminated from advancing to the semifinals of the ACC Baseball Championship after suffering a 13-3 defeat to Florida State on Wednesday at Truist Field in Charlotte.

Brian O'Connor was forced to use a total of seven pitchers in the game, as the Seminoles put up nine runs on the board in the first four innings and were all over the Virginia pitching staff from start to finish. After UVA starter Brian Gursky struck out the first two batters he faced, Jaime Ferrer hit a two-out single and then scored on the next pitch as Brett Roberts doubled to right center to drive in the game's first run.

Gursky delivered a scoreless second inning but was knocked out of the game in the third. He gave up back-to-back singles to begin the inning and then a two-run double to Ferrer. After another single and a wild pitch, Gursky gave up another two-run double to James Tibbs that spelled the end of Gursky's afternoon. UVA inserted Jay Woolfolk, who gave up a two-run home run to Alex Toral before finally getting out of the inning with Florida State leading 7-0.

The trouble continued for the Cavaliers in the fourth inning. Woolfolk gave up a double to Tyler Martin followed by an RBI single to Jordan Carrion. Woolfolk walked the next batter and then an error by Jake Gelof at third-base allowed another run to score to make it 9-0.

Virginia finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth. Alex Tappen and Jake Gelof started the inning with back-to-back singles but Devin Ortiz then hit into a double-play. Even with two outs, UVA managed to keep the inning going. Kyle Teel ripped a ball into right center that he stretched into a triple as Alex Tappen scored from third. Casey Saucke then delivered a double to score Teel and Saucke came home on the next pitch as Ethan Anderson singled up the middle to make it 9-3. The Cavaliers did no further damage in the inning as Chris Newell struck out. Had Ortiz not grounded into the double play, UVA would have likely scored at least a couple of more runs.

That three-run fourth inning was the only scoring for Virginia on the day, as the UVA bats struggled nearly as much as the Cavalier pitchers. Florida State needed just two pitchers to hold one of the nation's top offenses to three runs. UVA had 10 hits in the game, but stranded seven runners on base. Florida State starter Bryce Hubbart went four innings, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and striking out four batters. Hubbart was replaced in the fifth by Wyatt Crowell, who held the Cavaliers off the board and gave up just three hits and recorded six strikeouts.

Florida State added two runs in the seventh on a two-run home run by Reese Albert and another two runs in the eighth on a two-run single by Toral, which gave the Seminoles a ten run lead.

Crowell shut the Cavaliers down in the eighth and preserved the 13-3 FSU lead, triggering the 10-run rule and ending the game. This marks the first time Virginia has been run-ruled in the ACC Tournament since 2006.

With the loss, it is now impossible for Virginia (38-16) to advance to Saturday's semifinals regardless of the outcome of UVA's second pool play game against Notre Dame on Friday. The winner of the Notre Dame-Florida State game on Thursday will advance to the semifinals. The Cavaliers and Fighting Irish will meet on Friday at 11am at Truist Field in Charlotte.

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