Baseball: No. 21 Cavaliers defeat in-state foes VCU, JMU heading into exam break

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 21 Virginia scored the game’s first eight runs and held off James Madison for a 9-8 victory on Wednesday at Disharoon Park. After defeating VCU on Tuesday, Virginia improved to 24-0 in non-conference play this season and have won 28-consecutive regular season game non-ACC games dating back to 2022.

For the fourth time this season, starting pitcher Connelly Early produced a quality start. He did not allow a run over six innings and fanned six batters. He moved into a tie for the ACC lead with his ninth win of the season. Jay Woolfolk completed the four-out save and stranded the tying run on second base for his seventh save of the season.

Ethan O’Donnell put forth his third, four-hit game of the season going 4 for 5 with two runs scored an RBI. He was robbed of a fifth hit by JMU’s Trevon Dabney when he made a full extension diving play in right center the eighth inning. Kyle Teel and Anthony Stephan each had three hits and were two of six multi-hit performances in the Cavalier lineup.

On Tuesday against VCU, Virginia scored nine of the final 10 runs of the game in a 11-6 win. With the victory, the Cavaliers claimed both games of a home-and-home series with the Rams (22-23) after a 19-6 win in Richmond back on April 18.

Virginia trailed by three going into the bottom of the fifth but rattled off seven unanswered runs between the fifth and seventh innings to complete the first series sweep of VCU since 2019. Griff O’Ferrall led the way for the Cavaliers with a 3-for-4, three-run, two RBI effort at the plate. All three of his hits went for extra bases (two doubles and a triple). Teel and O’Donnell each added home runs in the come-from-behind win.

Bradley Hodges was credited with his second win of the season after he pitched 1.1 innings of relief. He was not charged with an earned run and struck out a batter in his 15th appearance of the year.

VIRGINIA 9, JAMES MADISON 8

• UVA (37-11) scored in the first inning for the 25th time this year, plating a pair of runs. O’Donnell scored on a wild pitch to put UVA on the board and Jake Gelof scored on an infield single by Teel.
• Three-straight two-out, RBI hits in the bottom of the second by O’Donnell, Gelof and Teel powered a four-run second inning. Gelof’s two-out double scored O’Donnell from first base, his 73rd RBI of the season.
• Casey Saucke tripled home UVA’s seventh run of the evening and later scored on a wild pitch to extend Virginia’s lead to 8-0 after five. It was Saucke’s first triple of the season and fourth of his career.
• The final Cavalier run, which proved pivotal, came in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly to right field by O’Ferrall that allowed Saucke to score.
• JMU (24-20) scored all eight of its runs its final three turns at the plate. Four of the eight runs surrendered by the Cavaliers were unearned.
• Dukes catcher Jason Schiavone made it a three-run game in the eighth with a two-out, two-run homer to left field. With the game 9-6, the Cavaliers went to Woolfolk to get the final out of the eighth.
• JMU pulled within a run in the ninth, scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI ground out by Mason Dunaway. The Dukes then drew a pair of walks before Woolfolk induced back-to-back flyouts to end the game.
• The win for Early was the 20th of his career, tied for the seventh-most among active NCAA pitchers. He is the fourth Cavalier since the 2016 season to record nine or more wins in a season – Connor Jones (11-1 in 2016), Andrew Abbott (9-6 in 2021) and Adam Haseley (9-3 in 2013).
• Ethan Anderson recorded his 22nd double of the season, the most in the ACC. He is one double shy of matching the school record held by Dan Street (2002) and Stephen Bruno (2012).
• Gelof went 2 for 5 with two doubles, two runs scored and an RBI. The two doubles upped his season total to 20 and is the third Cavalier (Anderson – 22, Teel – 20) with 20 or more doubles this season. It marks the first time in program history three players have recorded 20-plus doubles in a season.

VIRGINIA 11, VCU 6

• The Cavaliers had the lead twice in the first three innings before VCU made it a 5-2 ballgame in the top of the fifth inning, thanks to a four-run rally. The Rams batted around and scored all four runs with two outs, the final two came on a two-out double by Jacob Selden, his first hit of the season.
• Virginia pulled within two in the bottom half of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by O’Donnell that scored Harrison Didawick from third base. Didawick led off the frame with his ACC-leading, fourth triple of the season.
• The Cavaliers broke it open in the sixth, sending 11 batters to the plate and pushing five runs across, the 21st time this season UVA has scored five or more runs in an inning.
• Teel kicked off the big inning with a lead-off solo homer to right field. The long ball was his ninth of the season, matching his career-high set as a freshman in 2021.
• Anthony Stephan tied the game at five with an opposite field double to left, that scored Anderson from second base.
• O’Ferrall gave UVA the lead for good with his first triple of the season that allowed both Stephan and Colin Tuft to score. The Cavaliers capped the big inning with an O’Donnell two-out, RBI single up the middle.
• O’Donnell gave the Cavaliers a five-run cushion in the eighth inning with his 10th home run of the season, a two-run shot over the right field wall. O’Donnell was 2 for 3 with a run scored and a season-high, four RBI in the contest.
• Relievers Kevin Jaxel and Angelo Tonas helped preserve the Cavalier victory by combining to pitch the final three innings. Tonas faced the minimum over the last two frames and struck out a season-high four batters.
• Virginia won its 27th-consecutive regular season non-conference game and is 23-0 against non-ACC foes this season. The Cavaliers are the only team in the country without a non-conference loss.
• Anderson, who came into the game as ACC co-leader in doubles with Teel, recorded his 21st double of the season which is tied for the 6th-most in a season in program history. He’s two doubles shy of matching the single-season school mark held by Stephen Bruno (2012) and Dan Street (2002).
• Gelof had an RBI groundout in the first and drew a bases loaded walk in the third to give UVA its first two leads of the day. He upped his season RBI total to 72, the third-most in a single season in program history. He now sits alone in third place on UVA’s career list with 168.
• Virginia improves to 47-25 against VCU and has now won three-straight games against the rams dating back to last season.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will have the next six days off for final exams before returning home for their final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday, May 10 against Radford. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.