Cavaliers drop regular-season finale to No. 10 Louisville

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 10 Louisville scored the game’s first seven runs and never looked back in an 11-3 win over Virginia at Jim Patterson Stadium on Saturday. The Cardinals clinched the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series and secured their second series win over the Cavaliers in as many seasons.

Louisville pitchers Carson Liggett and Tate Kuehner combined to limit the Virginia attack to four hits and no runs over the first six innings of play. The Cavaliers (38-15, 17-13 ACC) scored all three of its runs on the afternoon in the seventh and eighth innings.

Freshmen Griff O’Ferrall and Justin Rubin each had two hits in the contest. Graduate student Devin Ortiz hit his seventh home run of the series and second in as many days to lead off the eighth inning. Alex Tappen was credited with his 70th RBI of the season in the contest, becoming the third Cavalier ever to drive in 70 runs in a season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Louisville scored six runs in its first two trips to the plate, including a four-run rally in the second. The first two runs of the day scored on a two-out RBI single by Levi Usher in the bottom of the first inning.
• The Cardinals (38-16-1, 18-11-1) hit a pair of two-run homers in the second inning, one off the bat of Ben Metzinger and the other by Jack Payton.
• Trailing 7-0, Virginia got on the board with an RBI single through the left side from Rubin that scored classmate Ethan Anderson. The Cavaliers made it a five-run game when Chris Newell scored on an RBI groundout from Tappen.
• Louisville responded in the bottom of the seventh with its third homer of the day, this time off the bat of Issac Humphrey to push the lead to 7-3.
• Ortiz’s capped the UVA scoring with a solo blast to lead-off the eighth. His seven home runs on the year are one shy of matching his career-high set last season.
• The Cardinals put the game away in their half of the eighth on a three-run homer by Dalton Rushing, his fifth long ball of the season.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“Just a tough loss. Two really, really great teams and Louisville did a great job of being opportunistic in the first two innings. You have to tip your hat to them, they did the job offensively. We just didn’t execute and then we didn’t take advantage of some opportunities we had. They’re a great ballclub overall, we had a terrific regular season. There’s no shame in where we finished in the top college baseball league in the country. We had a terrific regular season, we grew, learned a lot and now we shift our focus on getting the opportunity to win a championship.”

Box Score

UP NEXT: Virginia is locked into the fifth seed for the upcoming ACC Tournament taking place at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. Game times for pool play will be announced by the league office on Sunday morning.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• O’Ferrall extended his reached base streak to 17 games.
• Tappen joins teammate Jake Gelof (74 RBI) and Pavin Smith (77 RBI in 2017) as the only three Cavaliers to collect 70 RBI in a season.
• Virginia left eight runners on base, five in scoring position.