Cavaliers Now

Tomas Valincius Throws 10 Ks, Virginia Baseball Beats Rice 7-0

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletic

Welcome to college baseball, Tomas Valincius.

The freshman lefty made his collegiate debut on the mound and pitched like a veteran ace, throwing six innings of one-hit, shutout baseball and striking out 10 batters to lead No. 2 Virginia (2-1) to a 7-0 victory over Rice on Sunday evening to wrap up the Puerto Rico Challenge at Estadio Francisco Montaner in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

Valincius couldn't have started his debut much better, retiring the first six batters he faced and recording three strikeouts in the first two frames. The UVA bats gave Valincius some early support in the bottom of the second, as Henry Ford singled, Jacob Ference doubled, and Aidan Teel was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Harrison Didawick came up with a single through the right side to score two runs. Later in the inning, an error allowed Didawick to come around to score to make it 3-0.

Valincius gave up a leadoff double to Rice to start the third inning, but he responded by striking out the next three batters in a row to strand the runner. When he returned to the mound in the fourth, Valincius picked up two more strikeouts and retired the side in order. An error allowed a second leadoff batter to reach base in the top of the fifth for Rice, but Valincius retired the next three batters to keep the Owls off the board.

Virginia tacked on another run in the bottom half of the fifth as James Nunnallee hit a leadoff single, advanced to second on an Eric Becker walk, moved to third on a Henry Godbout bunt, and then scored on a Henry Ford sacrifice fly.

Valincius retired the side in order again in the top of the sixth and that was the end of his outing. His final line was about as impressive as it gets for a freshman in his debut: six innings, one hit, zero runs, zero walks, 10 strikeouts. Only two of the 20 batters Valincius faced reached base.

The Cavaliers went back to work on offense in the bottom of the sixth, as Aidan Teel hit a leadoff double down the right field line and scored on a Luke Hanson double to left center. Hanson eventually came around to score on a passed ball to make it 6-0.

Kevin Jaxel entered the game in the top of the seventh and worked around a two-out walk to retire the side. Three UVA pitchers kept the shutout going in the top of the eighth as Joe Colucci gave up two singles around a strikeout, Dean Kampschror came in and struck out the only batter he faced, and then Drew Koenen came in and induced a groundout to end the inning with two Rice runners on base.

The Cavaliers added one more run in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Becker and then Koenen finished the game for Virginia in the ninth, securing the 7-0 win.

Harrison Didawick, Henry Ford, and Aidan Teel had two hits apiece and Didawick had two RBI to pace the UVA offense. Of course, Tomas Valincius was credited with the much-deserved win for one of the best pitching debuts in Virginia baseball history.

After suffering a frustrating 5-4 loss in extra innings to Michigan in the season opener on Friday, Virginia bounced back and won the next two games to finish the weekend in Puerto Rico 2-1. Up next, the Cavaliers return to Charlottesville for their home opener against George Washington on Wednesday at 3pm ET (ACC Network Extra) at Disharoon Park.

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Published
Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.