Baseball: Hoos clinch series against UMass with 10-6 victory

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Posted on Sunday, Mar. 3, 2024, 11:26 pm

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Photo: UVA Athletics

No. 13 Virginia scored the game’s first six runs and held on for a 10-6 victory over UMass on Sunday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers took two out of three against the Minutemen and are now 10-1 on the season.

Starting pitcher Jay Woolfolk turned in the longest outing of his career, tossing six innings of one-run baseball. He matched a career-best with five strikeouts and recorded his first win of the season. The Cavalier offense was sparked by home runs from Henry Godbout and Henry Ford who each drove in three runs.

Godbout was 5 for 9 with a home run, four walks, three runs and six RBI in three games against UMass. The sophomore is batting .515 (17 for 33) on the season and has hit safely in 10-straight games.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Virginia put together three-straight, three-run rallies beginning in the second inning with a Harrison Didawick RBI double. Godbout singled home Didawick for the second run of the frame and later came around to score on a Griff O’Ferrall sacrifice fly.

With two outs in the bottom of the third, Godbout provided the fireworks with his first homer of the season, a two-run shot to put UVA up 6-0.

In the fourth inning, Ford made it 9-1 with a 405-foot blast into the left field bleachers, his third home run of the season. The first year went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and had three RBI in the contest.

After the second run of the game crossed for UMass (2-5) in the top of the seventh, the Cavaliers responded when Anthony Stephan tripled down the right field line and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Ford. Stephan has reached base safely in all 11 games this season.

UMass made it interesting in the ninth, plating four runs but righthander Aidan Teel struck out the final two batters of the game to seal the game.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

  • Casey Saucke went 2 for 3 with a run scored and extended his reached base streak that dates to last season’s College World Series run to 19 games.
  • Virginia never trailed in the contest, only the third time this season UVA has faced a deficit.
  • The Cavaliers were outhit in the contest, 14-11. It marked the second time this season UVA had fewer hits than its opponent and still won (Hofstra – Feb. 16).
  • Virginia improved to 3-1 all-time against UMass. The only other meeting prior to this weekend came in 1971, a 7-4 victory in Charlottesville.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will play two midweek contests beginning with Penn State at home on Tuesday at 1 p.m., and will travel to George Washington on Wednesday for a 2:30 p.m. contest with the Colonials in Washington, D.C.