#11 Virginia drops rubber match with #7 Virginia Tech, 7-5

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 7 Virginia Tech erased a 4-0 deficit and held on for a 7-5 series-clinching win over No. 11 Virginia on Sunday at Disharoon Park.

The Cavaliers suffered their first home series loss of the season with the setback.

Virginia (33-12, 14-10 ACC) held a 4-0 lead after three innings, and Virginia Tech (31-10, 14-8 ACC) went on to score the game’s next seven runs. Gavin Cross broke a 4-4 tie in the seventh with a lead-off homer as part of a three-run Hokie rally.

Reliever Graham Firoved, who earned a two-inning save in game one, pitched the final 3.2 innings of one-run baseball to pick up his second win of the year.

Graduate student Alex Tappen hit two home runs in a 2-for-4, two-run, three-RBI effort at the plate. It was his second multi-homer game of the season. He now has 12 home runs on the year and 25 for his career, both tied for the 11th most in school history.

Virginia scored the first three runs of the game on a pair of home runs. Tappen launched his 11th long ball of the year in the bottom of the first in an at bat where he saw eight pitches, five of which he fouled off.

Junior Chris Newell led off the second inning with a solo shot that traveled 446 feet over the “blue monster” in center field. He also extended his time at the plate, fouling off three pitches in a seven-pitch at bat. In the same inning, Ethan Anderson came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Griff O’Ferrall.

After Virginia starting pitcher, Jake Berry, held the Hokies hitless over the first three innings, Cross led the fourth off with a double as the first three runners reached. Cross came in on a sacrifice fly and Cade Hunter cut the UVA lead in half with a one-out single.

In the fifth, three-straight hits, including an RBI double by Tanner Schoebel, helped Virginia Tech pull within a run. Another sacrifice fly, this time from Jack Hurley, tied the game at 4.

Tappen hit his second homer of the game in the bottom of the seventh, the Cavaliers first hit since the third inning.

UVA brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth but Firoved induced a game-ending pop out to secure the victory.

UP NEXT: The Cavaliers will continue their homestand on Tuesday with the second game of a two-game, home and home midweek series against VCU. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Disharoon Park.