Virginia Cavaliers Brian O'Connor Brian O'Connor saw his Virginia team win games two and three at Boston College. ~ Photo by Kris Wright/TheSabre.com

After an ugly 8-2 loss in game one of the Boston College series, the Virginia baseball team proved it could win a series without scoring double digits in every game. In fact, UVA’s 2-1 series win came on a weekend where the Hoos scored their fewest runs in a three-game ACC series (10) since 2021.

That happened in back-to-back weekends against North Carolina (2/25-2/28) and Florida State (3/5-3/7). Both the Heels and Noles limited the Wahoo offense to just 6 runs in the respective series. The amazing thing about those two weekends is that UVA managed to win one game in each series.

Back to this weekend. The Hoos appeared to be on the ropes again in game two against BC. With the score tied 3-3, reliever Jay Woolfolk found himself in a jam after walking the leadoff hitter and hitting the second batter. He got the first out of the inning from an Eagle sacrifice bunt and then loaded the bases with his second walk of the frame. Fortunately, Weekend MVP Chase Hungate promptly entered the game, induced an infield fly rule pop up, and a highlight reel fly out (more on that in a moment).

Game three did not have the tension of game two but again, Hungate got the ‘Bat Signal’ to come in and save the day. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, relief pitcher Blake Barker was hit in the shin by a hard ground ball and was taken out of the game. Hungate entered with a runner on first and one out but didn’t make things easy. He hit the first batter he faced. Then after fanning BC’s Adam Magpoc, he threw a wild pitch that allowed the runners to move up into scoring position at second and third. Two pitches later, Eagle second basemen Vince Cimini grounded out harmlessly to Henry Godbout to end the eighth. Hungate allowed one batter to reach in the ninth but retired the other three to end the game.

Following the game three victory, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said he told his team, “Great teams find different ways to win and certainly our pitching and defense carried us today.”

Pitching, Defense Return To Standards

I noted last week in Three Things that during UVA’s recent two Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series, the Hoos posted 5 errors in each (Louisville and Georgia Tech). Following UVA 2-1 series loss at home to Georgia Tech last weekend, Coach O’Connor did not mince words saying ”... defense and pitching is a lot of times what it comes down to. All year long we’ve scored a ton of runs in the games and [this weekend] it wasn’t enough. It still comes back to you have to pitch and defend at a certain level and this [series] wasn’t anywhere close to where we need to be.”

What a difference a weekend makes.

The Cavaliers were clean and sound defensively against the Eagles over the weekend, committing just 1 error. It’s the fourth ACC series where Virginia committed only a single defensive miscue. The Hoos have won all four of those series with an overall record of 9-3.

O’Connor affirmed that if his club is going to be successful when postseason rolls around, pitching and defending will be a “huge component.” He said: “We didn’t play our kind of defense [last weekend] and when we defend really well on the infield it makes a difference for us. We had opportunities last weekend to make some plays to minimize innings and we didn’t do it. Certainly, today we did and this weekend we did.”

With UVA’s pitching woes the starts in the games two and three of the BC series were encouraging. The bullpen performance was stellar.

Owen Coady, Friday’s game two starter allowed just 3 earned runs in 4 innings. He gave up 5 hits and 3 walks with 2 strikeouts. But the game started off wobbly. BC’s leadoff hitter singled on Coady’s first offering, the number two hitter reached on a walk, and the third batter singled to load the bases. Eagles clean-up hitter Nick Wang doubled staking the home team to a 2-0 lead. Coady allowed the fifth consecutive hitter to reach base on his second walk of the frame and reloaded the bases.

Over the next 13 pitches, Boston College hitters put three balls in play without leaving the infield as the southpaw induced a line out to second, a foul out to third, and a ground out to second. Coady allowed an additional run over the next three innings but retired nine of the final 12 batters he faced.

O’Connor praised Coady for his effort in managing and minimizing what could have been a 3- or 5-run inning.

“That was a big manage in the first inning by Owen Coady. He didn’t have his stuff right away when the game started for some reason, and to manage around it and only give up two runs was huge,” O’Connor said. “That’s what we’re preaching to our guys. The other team has the right to score runs, too.”

Joe Savino’s day in his series finale start was even better. He threw 4 shutout innings, yielded just 1 hit, and had 1 strikeout to go with 2 walks. He did not surrender any extra base hits and allowed a .091 batting average to go with his zero game era.

Combined the pair of graduate students allowed just 3 earned runs, combined for a 3.38 ERA, and limited the Eagles to a .231 opponent batting average.

Two UVA Dives

Part of some strong Virginia defense this weekend proved to come from a pair of impressive individual plays. Two diving plays to be more specific.

In game two, Aidan Teel brought the fireworks with a long run from left field that turned into a diving catch to get out of the inning. As mentioned above, that ended a bases load threat from BC in the eighth inning of a 3-3 ballgame.

Check it out.

In game three, Teel moved to the mound where he became the beneficiary of a similar outfield dive. With one out and no runner on base, Boston College batter Nick Wang sent a line drive toward right center field on what could have been at least a double. UVA center fielder Bobby Whalen, however, sprinted hard toward the gap and dove to make the catch.

Teel went on to strike out the final batter as part of 2 innings of work with 2 strikeouts.