Baseball: Ford sets freshman HR mark as Cavaliers even series with 9-5 victory over NC State

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 10 Virginia evened the three-game ACC series against No. 23 NC State with a 9-5 win at Disharoon Park on Saturday. Henry Ford hit his 16th home run of the season to set the UVA freshman home-run record.

Ford eclipsed former big leaguer Mark Reynolds’ record of 15 homers in 2002 with a fifth-inning, two-run homer. The first-year was 2 for 4 with a pair of RBI and a run scored. Griff O’Ferrall and Casey Saucke each had three hits to lead the ACC’s most potent offense.

Starting pitcher Joe Savino pitched five innings of one-run baseball. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first inning and went on to retire the next 12 batters. He fanned three in his longest outing of the season and earned his first win as a Cavalier.

HOW IT HAPPENED

O’Ferrall opened the game’s scoring with an RBI double down the left field line and scored on Bobby Whalen’s single up the middle to give UVA (37-13, 15-11 ACC) a 2-0 advantage after one.

Henry Godbout traded places with Ethan Anderson in the bottom of the fourth with a double down the left field line to put the Cavaliers ahead, 3-0.

After NC State (28-19, 14-11) pulled within a run in the top half of the fifth, Ford and Jacob Ference hit back-to-back homers in a three-run frame. It marked the second home run in as many games for Ference who now has 15 long balls on the year.

NC State got within three in the eighth with a pair of runs thanks to four consecutive singles. With two outs and runners on the corners, Aidan Teel came in to get the final out, inducing an inning-ending lineout.

Whalen and Saucke gave the Cavaliers a six-run cushion going into the ninth inning with a pair of two-out RBI hits. Whalen drove in his second and third RBI of the game with a single into right and Saucke followed with a double down the left field line.

Teel got the final four outs of the game to earn his sixth save of the season.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The win sets up the sixth rubber match in an ACC series this season. UVA his 3-2 in rubber games this season.
• O’Ferrall moved into a tie with Steven Proscia (2009-11) for seventh place on UVA all-time hit list. O’Ferrall doubled in his final at bat, the 254th hit as a Cavalier. On more base knock would give him the most hits by any three-year player in program history.
• In 2002, Mark Reynolds hit his final two home runs of his freshman campaign against NC State. His 15th home run came in his 54th game.

UP NEXT

The series wraps on Sunday, with first pitch at Disharoon Park scheduled for 1 p.m.