UVA posts 12-2 win over Hokies in final series opener of regular season

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

To open the final weekend of the regular season, the Virginia baseball team downed Virginia Tech, 12-2, on Thursday night at English Field.

UVA starter Jay Woolfolk continued his late-season heroics on Thursday by tossing eight innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts. Woolfolk’s eight-inning start tied the longest of his career and was the longest outing by a Cavalier pitcher this season.

Harrison Didawick led the way offensively for Virginia (31-16, 15-10 ACC), going 4 for 5 on Thursday with a pair of RBI. Chris Arroyo and Jacob Ference homered in the later stages as UVA outscored Virginia 9-0 over the final two innings.

HOW IT HAPPENED  

Aidan Teel opened the game with a perfectly placed double down the left field line. The Virginia leadoff man scored two batters later on a Henry Ford RBI single that put the Hoos up 1-0 after one.

After being handed the lead, Woolfolk retired the first 10 Hokies he faced before turning a double play on an attempted Virginia Tech bunt to close out the fourth inning.

Woolfolk’s dominance continued as the right-hander struck out the side in the fifth to keep the series opener a one-run game.

Didawick extended the UVA lead to 2-0 in the top of the sixth with an RBI single to right that plated Arroyo.

An inning later, Luke Hanson worked a leadoff walk and later scored on an Eric Becker double that pushed the Virginia advantage to 3-0 heading into the seventh inning stretch.

Virginia Tech’s (29-23, 11-17) only two runs of the night came in the bottom seventh on a two-run home run off the bat of Sam Tackett that cut the score down to 3-2.

The Cavaliers answered immediately with a five-run top of the eighth that started with an Arroyo leadoff solo home run to open the frame and crescendoed with a two-run Becker single that made it an 8-2 contest.

To close out his longest outing of the season, Woolfolk induced a double play and struck out his sixth Hokie of the night for a scoreless home half of the eighth.

Virginia added four more runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run Ference home run and a James Nunnallee RBI double.

In relief, Wes Arrington sealed the 12-2 Virginia victory with a scoreless ninth.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia improves to 21-5 when Aidan Teel bats leadoff.
• Dating back to the April 6 contest at NC State, the Cavaliers have hit at least one home run in 18 straight games.
• UVA improves to 29-4 on the season when scoring six or more runs.
• Virginia’s five-run eighth was the 18th time this season that UVA has plated five or more runs in an inning.
• James Nunnallee extended his reached safely streak to 14 games on Thursday with a single in the eighth inning.

UP NEXT

Virginia will look to take the series on Friday in the second game of the three-game series. The Cavaliers will start lefthander Bradley Hodges (2-1) against Virginia Tech’s lefty Jake Marciano (4-2). Friday’s contest is slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch on ACCNX and WINA (98.9/1070 AM).