Cavaliers take series with 13-7 come-from-behind win over No. 20 Cardinal

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia baseball team overcame an early five-run deficit to defeat No. 20 Stanford by a score of 13-7 at Disharoon Park on Friday.

The visiting Cardinal jumped out to a 5-0 advantage after the opening two-and-a-half innings of play before the Cavaliers claimed 13 of the final 15 runs, including a six-run explosion in the seventh that put the Hoos out front for good.

Freshman Chone James paced Virginia offensively by going 3 for 5 on the day with a run driven in and a run scored. Chris Arroyo scored three times on Friday to lead all Cavaliers while Eric Becker drove in a game-high three runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The visiting Cardinal (16-8, 5-6 ACC) started fast on Friday with a three-run home run off the bat of Jimmy Nati in the top of the first.

Stanford added two more runs with a pair of RBI singles in the top of the third to extend its lead to 5-0.

Virginia (14-11, 5-6) scratched across its first run in the bottom of the third when a Henry Ford single scored Aidan Teel.

After plating a run in the third, UVA starting pitcher Tomas Valinicus wiggled his way out of a jam for a shutdown inning to help set the stage for the Cavalier comeback.

In the home half of the fourth, Luke Hanson laid down a perfectly placed, two-out bunt single that sparked a three-run Cavalier rally and brought Henry Godbout home to score.

One at-bat later, Teel lined a two-run double to left field that scored Hanson and Jacob Ference to cut the Stanford advantage to 5-4.

The Cardinal got a run back in the fifth with a solo home run from Brady Reynolds.

Following the Stanford solo shot, UVA scored the next nine runs of the game starting with a two-run fifth that featured RBI singles from Ference and James to tie the game to 6-6.

Virginia took its first lead of the night in the seventh when Arroyo crushed his second home run in as many nights to right field.

The Cavaliers scored five more runs in the frame, all with two outs, highlighted by a three-run blast from Becker.

Ference added an insurance run in the home half of the eighth with an RBI single to center that made it a 13-6 ballgame heading into the ninth.

Stanford tallied a leadoff solo home run in the top of the ninth before Jack O’Connor struck out the final three batters he faced to cement the 13-7 victory for Virginia.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• UVA has scored 24 runs on 27 hits over the first two games of the weekend series against Stanford.
• Virginia scored 11 of its 13 runs on the night with two outs.
• The Cavaliers improve to 6-2 on the season when the opposing team scores in the first inning.
• Friday’s win is UVA’s eighth come-from-behind victory on the year and the fourth where the deficit was five or more runs.
• The six-run seventh is the eighth inning this season where the Hoos have scored five or more runs.
• With his home run in the seventh, Chris Arroyo now leads the team with seven home runs and 24 RBIs.

UP NEXT

The series with Stanford concludes on Saturday with the final game of the three-game set. Virginia will have lefthander Evan Blanco (1-1) take the mound against Stanford righthander Joey Volchko (2-0). First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.