Baseball: No. 7 Cavaliers hold off late Pitt rally for 8-5 win to close series

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 7 Virginia salvaged the series against Pitt with an 8-5 win on Sunday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers improved to 23-2 at home this season and went 6-2 on the eight-game homestand.

A pair of clutch two-RBI hits, one in the late seventh inning by Ethan O’Donnell and another in the eighth by Kyle Teel helped UVA stave off a late Pitt charge. Virginia (31-6, 12-6 ACC) scored seven of its eight runs in the final three turns at the plate. O’Donnell was 3 for 4 with a run scored, an RBI and a walk while Teel reached base three times in a 1-for-3 afternoon at the plate.

Starting pitcher Jack O’Connor limited Pitt (16-18, 7-9) to just three hits and struck out four over six innings to earn his fourth win of the year. The quality start by O’Connor was third of the season. Jay Woolfolk completed the five-out save and stranded the bases loaded in the ninth to seal the win. It was Woolfolk’s, team-leading fifth save of the year.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Jack O’Connor’s lone mistake came in the top of the second, a lead-off home run by CJ Funk to give Pitt the initial 1-0 advantage. O’Connor struck out three batters in the inning and retired seven-straight from the second through fourth innings. The freshman righty did not allow a hit in his final three innings of work.
• The Cavaliers tied the game up in in the fourth when Ethan Anderson scored on a perfectly executed squeeze play by Luke Hanson who bunted a ball up the first base line. The RBI was Hanson’s sixth of season.
• O’Donnell capped a four-run rally in the sixth with a one-out, two RBI single to center field that scored Anthony Stephan and Casey Saucke. The Cavaliers took the lead earlier in the frame when Harrison Didawick and Griff O’Ferrall drew back-to-back, bases loaded walks.
• Pitt responded quickly in the top of the seventh when the second batter of the inning, Justin Acal, homered to left to make the score 5-3. It was Acal’s second home run of the series.
• UVA pinch-hitter, Chris Baker, made it a three-run ball game with a single to left field that scored Ethan Anderson.
• The third Pitt home run of the day, a two-run shot by Kyle Hess in the eighth, closed the UVA lead to 6-5.
• Teel provided the Cavaliers some breathing room with a one-out, two-run double to the gap in right center that scored O’Ferrall and O’Donnell.
• Woolfolk retired the next two batters of the eighth and escaped a bases loaded jam in the ninth by inducing a game-ending fly out to center field.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia racked up 14 hits in the contest with seven of the nine batters in the starting lineup collecting a base knock.
• Teel has reached base in all 36 games this season. O’Ferrall extended his hit streak to 14 in the top of the first leading off the game with a single to left, the first of two hits on the afternoon.
• Virginia 22-11 all-time against Pitt.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will embark on a four-game road trip beginning Tuesday in their annual trip to The Diamond in Richmond to take on VCU. The contest is scheduled for a 7 p.m. first pitch. The game will air live on ESPN+ and can be heard on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).