Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 23 Virginia baseball team dropped a 7-4 contest to Cal at Disharoon Park on Friday night.

The visiting Bears took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first before the two squads traded grand slams in the second inning. Cal added on a pair of runs in the seventh to take the opening contest of the three-game set.

UVA starter Henry Zatkowski was tagged with the loss after allowing five earned runs in 6.1 innings of work with nine strikeouts. AJ Gracia went 2 for 4 on the night while Kyle Johnson drove in all four of the Cavalier runs on Friday with his grand slam.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Cal (26-23, 9-16 ACC) grabbed the lead two batters into the game when Jett Kenady put the Bears up 1-0 with a home run to left field.

An inning later, the Bears’ Hideki Prather extended the Cal advantage to 5-0 with a two-out grand slam to centerfield.

Not to be outdone, the first three Cavaliers reached base in the bottom of the second before Johson smashed a grand slam over the wall in right field. The long ball was his sixth of the season and brought UVA to within a run at 5-4.

After surrendering the grand slam, Zatkowski settled in and only allowed a pair of base hits over the final 4.2 innings of his outing.

Cal tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh with a two-out two-run flare to right off the bat of Daniel Murillo.

UVA (32-17, 12-13) could only muster one base knock in the final three frames as Cal’s Cole Clark picked up a save for the Bears.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Despite being tagged with the loss, Henry Zatkowski has now struck out eight or more batters in each of his last five starts.
• Kyle Johnson’s grand slam in the second inning was the 83rd long ball on the year for UVA, which ties the 2023 squad for the second-most home runs during a season in program history. The 2024 team holds the record with 116.
• Sam Harris’ single in the second extended his hit streak to 10 games and his reached base safely streak to 15.
• With his spotless ninth inning, Christian Lucarelli has now held opponents scoreless in 11 of his 13 outings this season.

FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD

Coach Pollard on today’s game.#GoHoos pic.twitter.com/LZSSxRYTLd

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) May 9, 2026

“We have to buy into our approach better and most importantly, we have to have a better competitive fight. I told them that at the end of the ballgame. We did a great job of having an answer in the second inning. We had five hits through the first two innings and I think we had two the rest of the way. We just have to compete and fight better than we did over the last seven innings of that ballgame offensively.”

UP NEXT

No. 23 Virginia will continue its three-game weekend series with Cal on Saturday. Freshman John Paone (1-3) is slated to pitch against the Bears’ Gavin Eddy (6-3). Saturday’s first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will be carried by ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).

If you want even more award-winning coverage on the UVA athletics department, including its nationally-ranked football and basketball programs, be sure to subscribe to “Cavalier Exclusive” to follow all of Virginia Sports Hall Of Famer Jerry “Hootie” Ratcliffe’s analysis and content. It’s the best in the business for Wahoo Fans!