Johnson, a two-way star, will get another opportunity against the Panthers Saturday afternoon — this time, he will do it from the mound. He is set to make his sixth start of the season as Virginia looks to even the series.
Virginia was not even out-hit, with the hit total actually ending at 12-9 in favor of the Cavaliers. However, the timeliness of those hits as well as some free passes allowed for the Rams to reap the full benefits of its success relative to their Commonwealth counterparts.
Sunday’s win is exactly what Virginia needed at the exact time they needed it. Stability and length from the bullpen, contributions from all parts of the lineup and its stars showing up in a big way.
Overall, the Cavaliers (25-11, 9-8 ACC) had a tendency to shoot themselves in the foot all afternoon — giving up numerous free bases to fuel the Fighting Irish (16-14, 7-10 ACC) offense.
“Every time somebody asks me about Didawick, I always say he deserves all of the success he’s having,” Coach Chris Pollard said. “He’s in a good place … he and Sam Harris both, working through some adjustments.”
For the Dukes, it was a moment of elation, an 8-7 victory against what has proved to be one of the best collegiate teams in the country. For the Cavaliers, it was a shock that bred an atmosphere of despondency as the players cleaned and exited the dugout.
“I think we need to recommit to our game plans,” Coach Pollard said. “That's something we've been really good with this year. We've been really good at game-planning the opposing starter and being able to flush him out of the game. And we need to recommit to that.”
“The difference today was we gave them free offense, right?” Coach Chris Pollard said postgame. “We gave them five outs in an inning, we gave them four outs in another inning, we gave them some free passes and that allowed them to string together offense.”
Entering the weekend after a thorough run-rule demolition of Old Dominion during the week, the Cavaliers welcomed Florida State to The Dish Thursday evening.
“I told our guys in our pregame on Sunday, like, hey, the message doesn't change,” Coach Chris Pollard said. “Our approach doesn't change. The things that we do from a process standpoint, don't change. And so, you know, we looked at this as a one day season, right?”
Ahead of the series, here is the good, the bad and the surprising — the high, the low and the buffalo — for the Cavaliers and their opponent.
The junior second baseman ranks third on the team in runs batted in so far this season.
Ultimately, Virginia would win 3-1. Three hits and seven walks for Virginia would prove enough to push past Boston College as the series concluded in front of the second-largest crowd ever at Eddie Pellagrini Diamond on a cool spring afternoon.
Virginia will put their best effort toward a win on Sunday to avoid a sweep.
“[Boston’s] game is premised on trying to speed you up,” Pollard said. “They want to bunt, they want to run, they want to force you to hurry and make you make a mistake. We did that today … We gave them a couple of runs on hurry plays where we didn't have to be hurrying.”
