Skid snapped: UVA upsets No. 20 Stanford, 11-8, in series opener

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia baseball team outlasted No. 20 Stanford in an 11-8 contest at Disharoon Park on Thursday night.

UVA starting pitcher Jay Woolfolk picked up the win in the series opener for the Cavaliers. After surrendering a trio of runs in the second inning, the senior only allowed four Stanford base runners over his final four innings while fanning five total Cardinal batters.

Virginia’s offensive totaled 13 hits on Thursday, led by 2-for-4 performances from Aidan Teel, Eric Becker and Henry Ford. The Cavalier trio each drove in a run and scored at least once.

 HOW IT HAPPENED

The Hoos (13-11, 4-6 ACC) got on the board first with a two-out, two-run single from Henry Godbout that scored Becker and Teel in the bottom of the opening frame.

Stanford (16-7, 5-5) took its lone lead of the game by answering with a three-run top of the second.

Virginia tied the matchup at 3-3 in the fourth on a Harrison Didawick RBI single through the right side that scored Jacob Ference.

A two-run James Nunnallee double in the bottom of the fifth put the Cavaliers out front for good.

An inning later, the Virginia offense exploded for five runs, highlighted by a Becker RBI triple and a two-run home run from Chris Arroyo that made it a 10-3 ballgame.

Stanford started chipping away with two runs in the seventh and cut the Virginia lead in half heading into the stretch.

Ford added an insurance run out of the seventh inning stretch when the sophomore singled home to Teel to push the Cavalier advantage to 11-5.

Stanford’s final three runs of the night came in the top of the eighth when the Cardinal strung together an RBI single and back-to-back RBI doubles.

After surrendering the three runs in the eighth, Matt Lanzendorfer bounced back in the ninth by sitting down the heart of the Cardinal lineup in order to secure the 11-8 victory for Virginia.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• All nine Cavalier starters recorded a base hit in the series opener
• In his last six starts at Disharoon Park, Woolfolk has tallied 43 strikeouts in 36.1 innings pitched.
• With his home run in the five-run sixth, Arroyo now leads the team with six homers and 23 RBIs on the season.
• Thursday’s victory is the first for Virginia in an ACC series opener this season.
• With the win, UVA snaps a five-game losing streak. The five-game skid matched the longest streak of the Brian O’Connor era.
• Virginia improves to 6-2 on the year when scoring first.

UP NEXT

Virginia will look to take the series on Friday in the second game of the three-game set. The Cavaliers will start lefty Tomas Valincius (2-1) on the mound against Stanford’s lefthander Christian Lim (2-3). Friday’s contest is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch on ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).