Baseball: Whalen’s walkoff helps No. 10 Cavaliers even series with Yellow Jackets, 8-7

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Graduate student Bobby Whalen delivered a walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th inning to give No. 10 Virginia an 8-7 victory over Georgia Tech on Saturday. It marked the fourth walk-off victory of the season for the Cavaliers and first extra-inning games to reach the 11th since 2021.

Sophomore Luke Hanson, who was hitless going into his final at bat, drove a double off the wall to lead off the bottom of the 11th. He was moved over to third on a fly out by Griff O’Ferrall and Whalen punched a single through a vacated right side of the infield to secure the victory.

Chase Hungate pitched the final five innings and earned the victory. It matched his longest outing of his career. He allowed one run and won his team-leading fifth game of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jacob Ference got Virginia (30-10, 12-8 ACC) on the board in the second inning with his 11th home run of the year, a solo shot to lead off the inning.

Virginia trailed 2-1 going into the sixth inning and erupted for six runs to take a commanding 7-2 lead. Henry Ford hit a go-ahead, three-run homer in the frame on the first pitch he saw from reliever Dawson Brown. The Cavaliers capitalized on a one-out Georgia Tech fielding error that allowed Harrison Didawick and Ethan Anderson to score.

Griff O’Ferrall plated the final UVA run of the big sixth inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Henry Godbout.

Georgia Tech (23-14, 8-9) immediately responded with a four-run seventh inning. The Yellow Jackets sent 11 batters to the plate and pulled within a run on an RBI fielder’s choice from Payton Green. Drew Burress and Matthew Ellis had run-scoring hits in the frame.

Hungate got the final three outs of the of the seventh and went on to finish the game for the Cavaliers.

The Yellow Jackets tied the game in the top of the ninth on an RBI ground out from Bobby Zmarzlak. Hungate stranded the go-ahead on third with his lone strikeout of the game.

Virginia left the winning run on second base in the ninth inning and went down in order in the 10th. The double by Hanson to lead-off the 11th was his sixth of the year. Whalen is batting a team-best .408 on the year and finished the day 2 for 3.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia has won 10 of its last 11 extra-inning games, including all four this season.
• The last UVA game that went 11 innings was a 7-6 win over William & Mary in 12 innings on April 6, 2021. The game ended with a Zack Gelof sacrifice fly.
• The come-from-behind win was Virginia’s 17th of the season and fifth in ACC play.
• Henry Ford has reached base safely in 32-straight games and is now one home run shy of matching Mark Reynolds’ UVA freshman record of 15 homers set back in 2002.
• O’Ferrall has hit safely in 11-straight games, the longest active streak on the team and his second double-digit htting streak of the season.
• The six-run sixth inning marked the 17th time this season UVA has scored five or more runs in an inning.

UP NEXT

The weekend series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m. Virginia will have righthander Joe Savino (0-1) on the mound and he will be opposed by righty Tate McKee (3-3). The contest will be broadcast live on ACCNX and can be heard on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM/WINA.com).