Baseball: No. 7 Cavaliers clinch series with 6-5 win over No. 20 Hurricanes

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 7 Virginia clinched its fourth ACC series of the season with a 6-5 win over No. 20 Miami on Saturday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers set a program record with their 20th-straight win at home dating back to last season and currently own the nation’s longest home win streak.

Virginia (27-4, 10-4 ACC) trailed twice in the contest but rallied to claim its first series win over Miami since the 2017 season. Jake Gelof delivered the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI double to put UVA up 6-5. The junior went 3-for-5 with three RBI in the contest. Gelof, who came into the weekend as the ACC’s leader in RBI, now has 49 on the year.

Angelo Tonas was credited with his third win of the season and escaped a bases loaded, no-out jam in the top of the sixth to keep the game level at five. Jake Berry pitched the next two innings, worked around a pair of Miami base runners and was credited with his third bullpen hold of the year. Jay Woolfolk struck out the final batter of the game with the tying run on base to secure his fourth save of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The second batter of the game, Edgardo Villegas, gave Miami a 2-0 lead with one swing of the bat. He launched a ball over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the year.
• Virginia responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the first, with an RBI single by Gelof that scored Griff O’Ferrall. A batter later, Ethan Anderson plated Ethan O’Donnell on an RBI groundout to tie the game at two.
• The Cavaliers took the first of its three leads in the contest with an RBI triple by Gelof in the third inning, his third triple of the season.
• Miami (20-11, 8-6) manufactured a pair of runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly and an RBI groundout to regain the lead at 4-3.
• The Cavaliers went in front for the second time on a two-run double by Henry Godbout in the bottom of the fifth. Godbout reached base three times in the contest and was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBI.
• The lead was short-lived as Miami evened the game at five with an RBI single by Dominic Pitelli in the top of the sixth.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The lead changed hand five times and the game was tied twice.
• Griff O’Ferrall continued his red-hot hitting at the plate, with his third 3-plus-hit effort in as many games. He is 10 for 15 (.667) with two doubles, two RBI and six runs scored. He has reached base safely in the last 22 games.
• Kyle Teel was one of three Cavaliers with three-hit performances. The Cavalier backstop went 3 for 4 with a run scored and has now reached base in all 31 games this year.
• Nick Parker made his first start on the mound since leaving the March 24 series opener against Florida State after he was struck in the head by a line drive. The righthander pitched the first four innings, allowed four runs and struck out three in his return. He has pitched four or more innings in all but one appearance this season. UVA is 7-0 in games Parker starts on the mound.
• Virginia recorded its last series victory over Miami in 2017, winning the final two games by a combined score of 21-10 in Charlottesville.
• UVA improved to 3-1 in one-run games in 2023.
• The Cavaliers are 14-3 this season when scoring in the first inning and 9-2 when their opponent scores in the first.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will wrap up the series against Miami on Sunday with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Disharoon Park. Virginia will have righthander Jack O’Connor (2-1) on the mound and he will be opposed by righty Alejandro Torres (3-0).