Baseball: No. 11 UVA rallies for 8-4 win against VCU

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 11 Virginia recorded hits 16th come-from-behind victory of the season with an 8-4 win over VCU on Tuesday. The Cavaliers trailed on two different occasions and held the Rams scoreless over the final four innings to improve to 17-1 against non-conference opponents this season.

Harrison Didawick gave Virginia (26-7) the lead for good with a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth, his 14th home run of the season. He went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and three RBI. The home run put Didawick in a tie for ninth-most in a single season in UVA history.

Reliever Chase Hungate was credited with this third win of the year after pitching two scoreless innings. He retired six of the seven batters he faced and did not allow a hit in his 15th appearance of the year.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Brandon Eike, the third batter of the game, hit a solo home run over the blue monster in center field to give VCU the initial 1-0 advantage.

The Cavaliers responded with a three-run bottom of the first that was highlighted by RBI triples from Anthony Stephan and Jacob Ference. The last time UVA had multiple triples in a game was last year’s May 2nd meeting against VCU, an 11-6 victory at Disharoon Park.

VCU’s Cooper Benzin made it a one-run game in the top of the second with an RBI double. VCU rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth to recapture the lead, 4-3.

Virginia responded again in the bottom half with the opposite field blast off the bat of Didawick. It marked the second three-run homer in the last three games.

The Cavaliers used a season-high 10 pitchers in the contest and Ryan Osinski and Hungate were the only arms to log multiple innings.

VCU (22-11) left nine runners on base in its final five turns at the plate, including six in scoring position. Aidan Teel escaped a bases loaded jam in the seventh and Angelo Tonas struck out the final batter in the eighth to strand runners at the corners.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia has trailed in 22 of its 33 games this year and recorded 16 come-from-behind victories.
• The Cavaliers improved to 11-4 when opponents score in the first inning and 12-4 when opponents score the first run.
• Didawick is the 13th Cavalier ever to hit 14 home runs in a season and is tied for ninth-most on UVA’s single season list with Kent Savedge (1986), Kevin McDonald (1988), E.J. Anderson (1996) and Adam Haseley (2017).
• Virginia has won four-straight games against VCU and improves to 48-25 against the Rams all-time. The two teams are scheduled to meet once more at The Diamond in Richmond on April 30.
• Griff O’Ferrall went 3 for 5 with two runs scored and an RBI. It was his 16th multi-hit game of the season, tying him with Casey Saucke and Henry Ford for the team lead.
• Ford went 1 for 5 in the contest and has now reached base safely in 26-straight games.

UP NEXT

ACC play continues for the Cavaliers when they travel to Louisville for a three-game series against the Cardinals beginning Friday. First pitch for the series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. on ACCNX.