It didn’t go to extras, yet somehow the noon finale Sunday between Virginia baseball and No. 13 North Carolina still interfered with early evening plans.
Neighboring Klöckner Stadium — where the Cavalier men’s lacrosse team began its contest around the same time — had long since cleared out when sophomore pitcher Tommy Doyle recorded the final out of the longest nine-inning game in program history.
Virginia won the 4-hour 30-minute rubber match 15-9, snapping its streak of three straight ACC series losses.
“Certainly it was a long game, and the outs were tough to come by on both sides really,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “But I told the team after the game, I thought we played the toughest that we’ve played all year long. We were looking for this.”
The Tar Heels scratched across two runs in the first. Making his second start on the mound this season — the other a Sunday ago at Boston College — junior pitcher Alec Bettinger walked the first batter he faced, and then allowed a pair of singles to load the bases. After lining into a double play, North Carolina plated two on a single through the right side.
The Cavaliers trailed 3-0 in the top of the second, after a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior center fielder Tyler Ramirez drove home another Tar Heel run. Virginia hitters responded in the bottom frame, working North Carolina sophomore starter Jason Morgan for three walks — the last of which forced North Carolina coach Mike Fox to go to his bullpen.
Junior pitcher A.J. Bogucki inherited a nerve-racking situation. There were two outs, but the bases were juiced. Not to mention, sophomore shortstop Ernie Clement was standing at the dish, while junior catcher Matt Thaiss was licking his chops on deck.
Bogucki walked Clement on five pitches before Thaiss squared up a 3-1 pitch, slapping a two-RBI single into left center that brought the Davenport crowd of nearly 5,000 to its feet. Thaiss and the Virginia offense were just getting started Sunday.
Bettinger’s day ended in the top of the fourth, with the Tar Heels capitalizing on two hits and three walks to score two more runs. An inconsistent umpire behind home plate did not help his cause.
“I felt good with my location and everything, but that zone was going both ways,” Bettinger said. “There’s no way I can complain about it … Even when I came out I was like alright we’re still in this, because they’ve got to deal with this guy too.”
O’Connor called on senior lefty Kevin Doherty to get out of the bases loaded jam. The Laytonsville, Md. native did just that, striking out freshman second baseman Kyle Datres on a 2-2 count.
Again, the Cavaliers showed their resilience in the bottom of the fourth. Rallying with two down and nobody on base, Virginia scored six runs on only two hits. Bogucki recorded a strikeout and groundout, prior to walking three straight Cavalier batters. Junior shortstop Daniel Pinero made him pay, pulling a 1-1 delivery down the third-base line for a 3-RBI double.
A rattled Bogucki gave way to junior reliever Spencer Trayner, who tossed ball four to each of the first two hitters he faced. Trayner’s second walk capped off an 11-pitch at bat for sophomore left fielder Charlie Cody — a competitor Virginia welcomed back from an ankle injury.
Though he hadn’t seen his fair share of live pitching in 2016, Cody had an incredible approach at the plate Sunday.
“It was tough. I think I worked it to 3-2, and I don’t know how many I fouled off,” Cody said. “Obviously, the umpire’s zone had been a little weird throughout the game, so I think I swung at some balls so that was a little frustrating. But ultimately you’ve just got to refresh your mind after every pitch.”
Freshman right fielder Cameron Simmons followed up his teammate’s battle in the box with a bases clearing double into the right-center gap. With third-base coach Kevin McMullan waving him onward as the Tar Heel outfielder gathered and fired to his relay man, Cody slid headfirst into home to give the Cavaliers a 9-5 lead.
Four more Virginia runs in the fifth put the game out of reach. Thaiss crushed a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers, and Cody jumped on a 2-0 pitch, drilling a 2-RBI single up the middle. The Cavalier bullpen bent but didn’t break over the final four innings, and a gritty Virginia team prevailed.
“It was a grind for sure,” Cody said. “I think this game meant a little more to everyone, so it wasn’t hard to reach down deep and really grind out this game. We fell down 2-0 early but no one flinched.”
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