Cavaliers Now

UVA Baseball: Cavalier Bats Thwarted in 7-2 Loss to No. 7 Oregon State

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletic

Last season, Virginia didn't suffer its second loss of the season until game #14 on March 8th. In 2023, the Cavaliers' second loss didn't come until game #19, on March 18th. In 2022? Game #24, March 27th. You have to go back to 2021 to find the last time Virginia's second loss came in the month of February and the 2020 season was the last time the Cavaliers lost two of their first four games of the season.

With Virginia dropping its season-opener to Michigan last Friday, breaking that streak immediately became a strong likelihood as the Cavaliers were scheduled to open their second weekend of the season against another team ranked in the top 10 in the country. Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the third inning, No. 2 Virginia (2-2) did in fact lose its second game of the season as No. 7 Oregon State (5-0) dominated the rest of the game and handed the Cavaliers a 7-2 loss on Friday evening at Dell Diamond to open the Round Rock Classic in Texas.

Jay Woolfolk got the start for Virginia and relied on strikeouts to escape some early trouble, striking out the side in the top of the first to strand two baserunners and then posting two more strikeouts in the second inning to strand the bases loaded. After Woolfolk worked around back-to-back singles to start the top of the third to keep the game scoreless, the UVA bats broke through in the bottom half of the inning, as James Nunnallee walked, Eric Becker was hit by a pitch, Henry Godbout bunted to advance both runners, and then Chris Arroyo brought both of them home with a single through the left side to put Virginia ahead 2-0.

That was the end of the good times for the Cavaliers, as it was all Beavers after that.

Woolfolk gave up two more singles to start the top of the fourth and this time, Brian O'Connor didn't leave him in to sort out his own mess. Virginia inserted Joe Colucci, who walked the first batter he faced on four pitches to load the bases with no outs. Colucci bounced back and struck out the next batter, but then walked in a run and later another run scored on a passed ball to tie the game at 2-2.

In the top of the fifth, Colucci gave up two singles and was replaced by Blake Barker, who allowed three runs to come in on a pair of RBI singles to give Oregon State the lead. The Cavaliers had a chance to respond in the bottom half of the inning, putting runners on the corners with one out, but Jacob Ference and Aidan Teel were struck out by Oregon State reliever Eric Segura to end the inning with no damage done.

Segura remained one step ahead of the UVA batters after that, striking out the side in order in the sixth and picking up two more strikeouts in the seventh to strand Eric Becker on third base. Oregon State tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth as the Cavalier bullpen failed to keep the game within striking distance.

The Virginia bats were the bigger issue, though, as the Cavaliers left 10 runners on base, batted 3 for 18 with runners on base, and 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position. UVA managed just six hits in the entire game as compared to 11 strikeouts and the bottom five batters in the order were hitless.

Oregon State appears to have all the pieces needed to be a national title caliber team. The same was thought to be true for the Cavaliers, but they've yet to show it through the first four games. It's a long season, though, and it's imperative that UVA approach the rest of the weekend with a short memory. Up next, play continues at the Karbach Round Rock Classic as Virginia takes on Minnesota on Saturday at 1pm ET.

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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.