Baseball: Cavaliers clinch series with 13-3, run-rule win against Hokies

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 18 Virginia blasted six home runs in a 13-3, run-rule win over Virginia Tech in seven innings on Friday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers eclipsed the 100-home run mark for the season, extending their school record for the most in a single-season.

Ethan Anderson drove in a career-high six runs and went 2 for 4 with two home runs. It was his third multi-home run effort of his career. The Cavaliers hit three home runs in the fourth inning as part of a five-run frame. Harrison Didawick hit his 21st home run of the 2024 campaign, two shy of matching the program’s single-season mark set by Jake Gelof last season.

Joe Savino picked up his second win of the year after he allowed two runs over five innings of work. It marked the second-straight start he’s logged five innings and left after a leadoff single in the sixth. The right-hander struck out two batters and improved to 2-1 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Cavaliers (39-14, 17-12 ACC) did not have a baserunner in the contest until Didawick cracked a 3-2 fastball into the Cavalier bullpen in right field, knotting the game at one in the bottom of the second. He faced two pitchers in the at bat as Virginia Tech starter Griffin Stieg left the game with an injury after a 1-1 count. Didawick is 5-for-6 with two home runs, five runs scored and three RBI in two games.

The Cavaliers took the lead for good in the third on an Anderson groundout that scored Bobby Whalen. Henry Ford and Didawick added two-out RBI singles in the frame to put UVA up 4-1 after three.

The Cavaliers posted five runs in the fourth to blow the game open with home runs by Eric Becker, Anderson and Casey Saucke. It marked the second time this season UVA has hit three homers in a single-inning (3 in 2nd inning at GW on March 6).

Anderson hit his second homer of the day in the fifth, a towering three-run shot over the right-field wall to give UVA a 10-run lead. The long ball brought his season total up to seven.

The double-digit lead was short lived as Virginia Tech (32-19, 14-15) plated two on a two-out RBI single in the top of the sixth.

Henry Godbout put the Cavaliers back in position to end the game early with his sixth home run of the season, a two-run shot with two outs in the bottom of the sixth.

Reliever Ryan Osinski got the final four outs of the game and turned a 1-6-3 double play in the top of the seventh to help face the minimum in the final frame.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Entering Friday’s contest there were 16 teams nationally with 100 home runs on the season.
• The Anderson multi-homer game was the 11th time this season a Cavalier has left the yard multiple times in a game. Six players are responsible for the 11 multi-home run efforts – Henry Ford (3x), Jacob Ference (3x), Ethan Anderson (2x), Harrison Didawick (1), Luke Hanson (1) and Casey Saucke (1).
• Anderson extended his reached base streak to 25 games, the longest active streak on the team and the longest of his career.
• The two home runs for Anderson were his 26th and 27th of his career. He needs one more home run to move into a tie for seventh on the UVA all-time career home run list.
• Didawick has scored 69 runs on the season, the sixth-most in a single season in program history. He’s seven runs off Griff O’Ferrall’s school-record of 76 set last year.
• O’Ferrall collected his team-leading 24th multi-hit game, with a 2-for-4 day at the plate.
• Becker has reached base safely in 24-straight games and has hit four home runs in his last five starts.
• The five-run fourth inning was the 19th time this season UVA has posted five or more runs in a single inning this season.
• The back-to-back home runs by Anderson and Saucke in the fourth inning marked the third time UVA has gone back-to-back this season.
• Friday marked the sixth time this season that UVA has hit six or more home runs in a game.
• Virginia has won five games by virtue of the run-rule this season, two in ACC play.

THE SMITHFIELD COMMONWEALTH CLASH

The Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, originally called the Commonwealth Challenge (2005-2007), has been a part of the UVA-Virginia Tech rivalry since 2014. It is an all-sports, points-based program with the Commonwealth Clash trophy presented to the winning school each year for its dominance in head-to-head competitions. Virginia already clinched the title for the 2023-24 academic year and with the baseball series victory won the trophy by a 15-6.5 margin.

UP NEXT

The series against Virginia Tech is scheduled to conclude on Saturday at 5 p.m. The contest is slated to air live on ACC Network.