Baseball: Virginia blanks UNC Wilmington, 7-0, as pitchers combine for 2-hit shutout

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 19 Virginia handed host UNCW its first loss of the year Sunday with a 7-0 win on the final day of the Hughes Bros. Challenge in Wilmington, N.C. Cavalier hurlers Jack O’Connor, Jake Berry and Jay Woolfolk limited the Seahawks to two hits and combined for 12 strikeouts.

O’Connor, making his collegiate debut, pitched the first five innings, allowed one hit and struck out seven UNCW batters. The righthander allowed his only hit in the first inning and faced the minimum (12 batters) in his final four innings of work. Berry relieved O’Connor and the sixth and allowed one hit over three innings of work. Woolfolk threw 10 pitches and struck out two in a clean ninth inning.

Jake Gelof, the third batter of the game, hit a three-run homer in the first inning. He finished the day 3 for 5 with a home run and four RBI. He has two home runs and nine RBI in his first three games of the season. Juniors Ethan O’Donnell and Kyle Teel each put together multiple-hit efforts as UVA collected 10 hits on day.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Griff O’Ferrall worked a seven-pitch walk to lead off the game and O’Donnell single to left field. Gelof put the Cavaliers (3-0) up 3-0 after he drove a 0-1 pitch over the wall in center, his second home run in as many days.
• UVA capitalized on two UNCW (2-1) defensive miscues scoring unearned runs in the fourth and sixth innings. Justin Rubin plated Harrison Didawick with a single to center in the fourth. Teel came around to score on an RBI groundout by Didawick in the sixth.
• The Cavaliers added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning. Ethan O’Donnell, the country’s top returning doubles man in the country, doubled home O’Ferrall to make the score 6-0.
• Gelof followed up O’Donnell’s double with an RBI single to center for his fourth RBI of the day.

HOOS WIN!!! Jay Woolfolk finishes off a 2-hit shutout for UVA!

Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/RvnxkvOfO1

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) February 19, 2023

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Gelof moved into a tie with UVA Hall of Famer Ryan Gilleland for ninth place on UVA’s all-time home run list with his 27th home run of his career.
• Casey Saucke made a pivotal defensive play in the seventh inning with an outfield assist. He threw out Alec DeMartino from right field trying to go first to third on a single by Tanner Thach. It was his third career outfield assist.
• It was the first Virginia shutout since blanking Pitt 18-0 on April 16, 2022. The Cavaliers had six shutouts as a staff in 2022.
• Virginia has put together 10 or more hits in each of the first three games of the season and have 49 total for the year.

UP NEXT

Virginia will begin a 10-game homestand with a matchup against Longwood on Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Disharoon Park.