No. 23 Virginia emerges victorious in wild one against Maryland, 7-6

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Photo: UVA Athletics

The No. 23 Virginia baseball team prevailed on Tuesday night over Maryland when Henry Godbout rushed home from third in the bottom of the ninth inning on a Terrapins wild pitch to give the Cavaliers a 7-6 walk-off win at Virginia Credit Union Stadium in Fredericksburg.

Eric Becker paced the Virginia offense on Tuesday by going 2-for-5 with a two-run double in the sixth that put UVA out front at 4-3. Ryan Osinski picked up the win for the Hoos after pitching the ninth inning.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

After two scoreless frames to open the contest, Maryland (8-8) got on the board first in the top of the third with an RBI triple from Elijah Lambros that put the Terrapins up 1-0.

UVA (10-5) had runners on the corners in the bottom of the fourth when James Nunnallee was caught in a rundown trying to steal second. The rundown went long enough to allow Harrison Didawick to scamper home and tie the game.

The 1-1 tie held until the sixth inning when Maryland plated a pair of runs with a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to left to take a 3-1 advantage.

Virginia answered right back in the home half of the inning when Aidan Teel scored on a Maryland Error. Later in the frame, Eric Becker singled home Trey Wells and Didawick to give the Cavaliers their first lead of the game at 4-3.

In the eighth, Nunnallee worked a two-out walk that brought Luke Hanson, who had entered the game as a defensive replacement one inning earlier, to the plate. On the first pitch that Hanson saw of the night, he crushed a no-doubt home run to left for his first homer of the season. The two-run blast extended the Cavalier advantage to 6-3 heading into the ninth.

In the ninth, Maryland rallied to tie the game with an RBI double, an RBI ground out and passed ball that plated the tying run at 6-6.

Henry Godbout opened the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff single and made his way to third thanks to productive outs from Chris Arroyo and Henry Ford. Teel kept the inning alive with a two-out walk before Maryland’s pitcher threw a wild pitch to Didawick, allowing Godbout to score from third and secure victory for Virginia.

ADDITIONAL NOTES 

  • The walk-off win was Virginia’s first of the season and the first since the Cavaliers walked off Mississippi State during the 2024 Charlottesville Regional.
  • With the win, UVA improves to 113-80-1 all-time against Maryland and now has won five-straight contests against the Terrapins dating back to the 2014 Charlottesville Super Regional.
  • Bradley Hodges got the start on the mound for the Cavaliers, his first since March 22, 2023.
  • Godbout extended this on-base streak to 35 games with a walk in the third inning.
  • Teel also extended his on-base streak and has reached safely in every game this season.
  • Ford pushed his team-best hitting streak to 13 games with a single in the first inning.
  • Becker will enter the Cal series riding a 10-game hit streak after a fifth inning double.  

UP NEXT 

Virginia will continue its four-game road stint on Friday when it heads west for a weekend series at Cal. The series opener against the Golden Bears is set for 9 p.m. ET. The game is slated for a 5 p.m. start on Saturday, followed by the finale on Sunday at 4 p.m. All three games will be broadcast on ACCNX and can be heard on WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).