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Virginia vs. Penn Live Updates | NCAA Baseball Tournament

Score updates and live analysis for Virginia vs. Penn in the Charlottesville Regional of the NCAA Baseball Tournament

Matt Newton

Virginia Athletics

No. 12 Virginia (42-15) earned a 4-2 victory over Penn (24-24) in the opening game of the Charlottesville Regional at the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament on Friday at Disharoon Park. See a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game in the thread below. Stay tuned to CavaliersNow for more postgame coverage.

Read a recap of the game here: Virginia Baseball Beats Penn 4-2 to Open Charlottesville Regional

Note: most recent updates are at the top of the page in reverse chronological order. Refresh the page for updates.

Final Score: Penn 2, Virginia 4

Top of the 9th
Baker hits one into the gap in left-center field, but Whalen turns on the jets and makes a great catch on the run.
Taylor swings at the first pitch and pops it up into foul territory near home plate where it is caught by Eric Becker.
Spaventa lines out to right field and the game is over.

Virginia defeats Penn 4-2.

Bottom of the 8th
Godbout works a leadoff walk on a full count.
Godbout steals second, sliding in just ahead of the tag.
Becker ends up walking on four pitches, giving UVA runners on first and second with no outs.
Whalen lays down a successful bunt and moves the runners to second and third with one out.
O'Ferrall hits a pop-up into foul territory and Spaventa makes the catch and then drops the ball as he was going to throw it. The umps go to replay review to check, but the call on the field stands as an out.

Anderson hits a sharp grounder between first and second and Chavez fields it and throws to Trop covering first. The throw is slightly off the mark, and Trop has to make a difficult catch while falling to the ground. UVA again challenges the call and the umps review it, but the call again stands on the field. That's a great play by Penn to prevent a run from scoring and keep it a 4-2 game heading to the ninth inning.

Penn 2, Virginia 4 | End 8th

Top of the 8th
Asa Wilson pinch hits for Neskie to start the eighth and hits a leadoff single to right-center.
Penn uses another pinch hitter, with Nate Polo hitting for Brown, and Hungate strikes him out looking.
Back to the top of the order, Chavez flies out to center field for the second out of the inning.
Hungate strikes out Wyatt Henseler swinging to end the inning.

Hungate works around the leadoff single to preserve UVA's two-run lead.

Penn 2, Virginia 4 | Mid 8th

Bottom of the 7th
Griff O'Ferrall hits a leadoff single and then wastes little time, stealing second on the first pitch of the next at-bat.
New Penn pitcher Eli Trop throws a wild pitch and O'Ferrall advances to third.
Ethan Anderson loops a base hit down the right field line, scoring O'Ferrall from third and legging it out to second for a double. Virginia picks up an insurance run and leads 4-2.
Saucke flies out to right field and Anderson tags up and gets to third.
Ford strikes out for the second out of the inning.
Ference walks on four pitches and UVA has runners on the corners with two outs. Ference steals second base with no throw.
Eli Trop strikes out Didawick swinging to end the inning.

Virginia scores one run on the Anderson RBI double to extend its lead to 4-2.

Penn 2, Virginia 4 | End 7th

Top of the 7th
Spaventa flies out to right field.
Collins hits a hard line drive right at Godbout at second base.
Hungate strikes out Ozmer looking to complete the 1-2-3 inning.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | Mid 7th

Bottom of the 6th
Ference hits a leadoff double down the left field line.
Didawick is hit by a pitch for the second time today and Virginia now has runners on first and second with no outs. There's a lengthy meeting on the mound, but Zaffiro stays in the game.
Henry Godbout tries to lay down a bunt and instead pops it up to the catcher. Worst case scenario there for Godbout and Virginia.
Becker strikes out swinging for the second out of the inning.
Whalen grounds out to second base and Penn gets out of the inning unscathed. UVA squanders first and second with no outs.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | End 6th

Top of the 6th
Chavez hits a slicing line drive to right field and Saucke lays out and makes an incredible diving catch. Might see that one on SportsCenter later.
Henseler hits a line drive to left-center field and Harrison Didawick makes the running catch.
Savino walks Baker on four pitches.
That will be the end of the afternoon for Joe Savino, whose final statline is 5.2 innings pitched, 2 earned runs on 3 hits, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts. He's also responsible for the runner on first base.

Into the game now for Virginia is righty reliever Chase Hungate (4.23 ERA).
Hungate gets Taylor to fly out to Didawick in left field to end the inning.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | Mid 6th

Bottom of the 5th
Griff O'Ferrall hits a leadoff single through the left side of the infield.
Ethan Anderson flies out to left field.
Saucke draws a walk to put runners on first and second with one out.
Ford grounds into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play and it remains a 3-2 ball game.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | End 5th

Top of the 5th
Savino sets the Quakers down in order, getting Ozmer to fly out and then picking up two more strikeouts against Neskie and Brown. That's eight strikeouts on the day for Savino, who sits at 87 total pitches through five innings.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | Mid 5th

Bottom of the 4th
Ford grounds out to shortstop.
Zaffiro walks Ference on four pitches.
Harrison Didawick is hit by a pitch and UVA has runners on first and second with one out.
Godbout flies out to right field.
Becker works a full-count walk and the bases are loaded with two outs.
Bobby Whalen hits a line drive to right field, but Brown is there to make the catch to end the inning. Virginia strands the bases loaded and it remains a one-run game.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | End 4th

Top of the 4th
Savino's perfect outing is no more. Connor Chavez hits a leadoff single to right field to start the fourth.
Savino strikes out Henseler for the second time today, Savino's sixth K of the game.
Chavez steals second and then Davis Baker doubles down the left field line to score Chavez and get the Quakers on the board. UVA leads 3-1.
Taylor hits a bouncer to first and Ford fields and beats him to first for the second out.
Nick Spaventa fouls off a couple of payoff pitches and then hits a line drive into center field for a two-out RBI single, scoring Baker to make it 3-2.
Savino is now getting a visit from UVA pitching coach Drew Dickinson.
Collins hits a grounder to short and O'Ferrall gets the fielder's choice at second to end the inning, but the Quakers are on the board behind RBI base hits from Davis Baker and Nick Spaventa.

Penn 2, Virginia 3 | Mid 4th

Bottom of the 3rd
O'Ferrall lines out to center field.
Anderson hits a routine fly-ball to center field.
Saucke swings at the first pitch and flies out to left field.

Easy eight-pitch inning for Cole Zaffiro.

Penn 0, Virginia 3 | End 3rd

Top of the 3rd
Carson Ozmer hits a line drive right at Becker at third base.
Savino picks up his fourth strikeout of the game, catching Justin Neskie looking.
Make that five strikeouts for Savino, who gets Calvin Brown swinging to end the inning. Savino has yet to surrender a baserunner through three frames.

Penn 0, Virginia 3 | Mid 3rd

Bottom of the 2nd
Henry Ford singles through the right side of the infield for the first hit of the game.
Jacob Ference hits a deep fly-ball to left-center field, it falls just short of the wall and is caught at the warning track.
Harrison Didawick draws a walk and Virginia has runners on first and second with one out.
Henry Godbout turns on a 2-0 pitch and crushes it into the bleachers in left field for a three-run home run. Virginia leads 3-0.
Zaffiro bounces back from the three-run homer by striking out Eric Becker and Bobby Whalen swinging to end the inning.

But UVA strikes first on the three-run home run from Henry Godbout.

Penn 0, Virginia 3 | End 2nd

Top of the 2nd
Savino catches Ryan Taylor looking for his third strikeout of the game.
Nick Spaventa hits a slow bouncer to third base and Eric Becker makes a fantastic play, bare-handing the ball and firing to first in time for the out.
Gavin Collins hits a hard line drive to center field and Bobby Whalen nearly overruns it, but manages to stretch and make the catch on the run for the final out.

Six up and six down for Joe Savino.

Penn 0, Virginia 0 | Mid 2nd

Bottom of the 1st
Griff O'Ferrall hits an infield pop-up that is caught by Penn catcher Justin Neskie.
Ethan Anderson hits a slow grounder to third base and is thrown out.
Casey Saucke goes down on strikes and Cole Zaffiro matches Savino with a 1-2-3 inning.

No score through the first.

Penn 0, Virginia 0 | End 1st

Top of the 1st
Griff O'Ferrall makes a nice play at shortstop, spinning into a long throw to retire Connor Chavez.
Joe Savino falls behind Wyatt Henseler, but then throws three straight strikes and catches Henseler looking for the second out.
Savino strikes out Davis Baker swinging on a full-count to cap the 1-2-3 inning.

Penn 0, Virginia 0 | Mid 1st

Pregame Information

Today's game is set to start at 12pm and will be streamed on ESPN+.

The umpires for today's game are Scott Cline (HP), Derrick Everett (1B), Mark Wagers (2B), and Alex Ortiz (3B).

The winner of today's game will take on the winner of Mississippi State vs. St. John's (7pm on ESPN+) in the winner's bracket game on Saturday at 6pm, while the losers will meet in an elimination game on Saturday at 12pm.

Read a full preview of the Charlottesville Regional, including bracket and schedule information, scouting reports on each team, and other notes here: Virginia Baseball: Everything You Need to Know for the Charlottesville Regional

Penn Starting Lineup
2B Connor Chavez (.291)
3B Wyatt Henseler (.372)
SS Davis Baker (.309)
CF Ryan Taylor (.312)
1B Nick Spaventa (.325)
LF Gavin Collins (.277)
DH Carson Ozmer (.318)
C Justin Neskie (.273)
RF Calvin Brown (.211)

SP Cole Zaffiro - 5-4, 4.98 ERA

Virginia Starting Lineup
SS Griff O'Ferrall (.336)
DH Ethan Anderson (.332)
RF Casey Saucke (.354)
1B Henry Ford (.342)
LF Harrison Didawick (.301)
2B Henry Godbout (.376)
3B Eric Becker (.360)
CF Bobby Whalen (.403)

SP Joe Savino: 2-2, 3.18 ERA

See score updates for every game in the regional round of the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament here.

Published |Modified
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.