Absent from the top-25 rankings for the first time in 2016, the Virginia baseball team headed north to Chestnut Hills, Mass. for a three-game weekend series at Boston College. Behind the arm of junior ace Connor Jones, the Cavaliers (20-14, 7-8 ACC) blanked the Eagles (16-11, 5-8 ACC) on a windy opener Friday, 3-0.
Jones went the distance on 116 pitches, yielding just one hit — a base-knock off the bat of sophomore right fielder Donovan Casey to begin the bottom of the second. Fittingly, with two men down in the bottom of the ninth, Jones struck out Casey — the batter who had spoiled his shot at a no-hitter — and recorded his first career complete-game shutout.
Freshman starter Jacob Stevens and the Boston College bullpen limited Virginia to only four total hits Friday. Three errors with runners on base cost the Eagles early, accounting for all three Cavalier runs. A wayward throw and botched grounder loaded the bases in the third before Stevens walked junior shortstop Daniel Pinero to scratch across Virginia’s first unearned run.
In the top of the ninth, once sophomore third baseman Justin Novak had reached base on a hit by pitch, another Boston College throwing error enabled Novak to score from first and sophomore center fielder Adam Haseley to reach third. Then, sophomore second baseman Ernie Clement lined an RBI single to left field that plated the Cavaliers’ final unearned run Friday.
A role reversal occurred Saturday, as Virginia committed two critical errors in the ninth inning of a 2-2 ballgame. After striking out the leadoff guy and inducing a pop up, sophomore pitcher Tommy Doyle fell behind 3-1. Boston College junior catcher Nick Sciortino drove the next pitch back up the box — a sign of a well-timed swing. On standby, freshman outfielder Dominic Hardaway pinch ran at first for Sciortino.
Most baseball minds knew the speedster Hardaway would attempt to steal second base, but that didn't deter him. The cross-diamond throw from junior catcher Matt Thaiss skipped into center field, permitting Hardaway to advance to third. Meanwhile, Doyle kept his composure on the mound.
The former Flint Hill Husky baited a 2-2 swing-and-miss on a pitch in the dirt, but Thaiss flung the ball wide of first. Gliding down the third-base line, Hardaway scored easily. His Eagle teammates raced out of the dugout in celebration of a 3-2 walk-off win.
Lost in disappointment, the pitching performance Haseley lent his Virginia team was exceptional Saturday. He surrendered only two runs – both in a taxing first frame – over eight innings of five-hit work. Cavalier hitters again struggled at the dish, collecting only four hits, including sophomore first baseman Pavin Smith’s game-tying double in the sixth.
Virginia regrouped overnight and returned to John Shea Field for the rubber match Sunday. Making his first start of the season, junior pitcher Alec Bettinger shut down Boston College through five innings, allowing just three hits and striking out five. His Cavalier teammates finally put a run on the board in the fifth.
Freshman infielder Ryan Karstetter doubled into the left-center gap and moved up to third on freshman right fielder Cameron Simmons’s bunt single. Novak, who continues to produce at the bottom of the order, grounded into a force out to give Virginia a 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth — what would be Bettinger’s final frame — the Eagles responded with a run of their own. The first batter Bettinger faced, junior utility man Michael Strem, singled into left field, bringing about an obvious sacrifice situation. Strem advanced into scoring position on junior shortstop Johnny Adams’s bunt down the first-base line.
Senior left fielder Logan Hoggarth singled up the middle to drive home Strem and tie the game, 1-1. That score stood until the top of the tenth when Smith clobbered the first pitch he saw for a go-ahead three-run homer to right.
Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the tenth, the Eagles loaded the bases with one out. Freshman pinch hitter Gian Martellini fouled out to Thaiss, though, and it appeared Boston College had squandered a potential rally. But Strem slapped a two-bagger down the left field line that evaded the Cavaliers’ no-doubles defense, cleared the bases and tied the score 4-4.
Two innings of stalemate later, Adams smacked a one-out double to right center off Virginia freshman reliever Chesdin Harrington. Exposing Harrington’s inexperience, the Eagles drew a pair of free passes between a strikeout to load the bases again. This time sophomore right fielder Scott Braren drilled a walk-off single into right. Boston College had snatched ‘Championship Sunday’ — as Virginia coach Brian O’Connor calls the last Sunday game in a series — from the Cavaliers.
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