The Cavaliers took the field at Disharoon Park on a lovely Saturday afternoon for the second matchup of the weekend against VCU. Sophomore lefty Max Stammel took the mound for his third start of the young season, boasting an ERA of 3.00 in six innings entering the day’s play.
For the Rams (4-6, 0-0 A10), the ball was given to 6-foot-8 senior Patrick Steitz, a pivotal figure in VCU’s statement win against Illinois earlier in February. The towering right-hander boasted a 0.92 ERA entering Saturday’s matchup, presenting a challenging task for Virginia (8-1, 0-0 ACC) at the plate.
In the opening frame, a feeble grounder to junior second baseman Joe Tiroly in shallow right field left him contorting to make a throw to junior first baseman Sam Harris as new leadoff man Cade Tousa arrived at the bag safely.
His promotion to the top of the lineup may have brought some early-game nerves, however, as he was caught in between second and third as a result of a Stammel pickoff attempt for the second out of the inning and an eventual donut in the opening frame for the Rams.
The Cavalier offense started in much the same fashion as Friday’s contest, with a first-inning home run leaping off the bat of junior outfielder AJ Gracia and landing in the left-center field bleachers. Stammel did well to hold on to the lead early, retiring the next six batters he faced, four of them strikeouts.
Both squads proved potent with the bat in the fourth, with a double to start the inning from Tousa allowing for the Rams to plate one on designated hitter Jacob Lee’s sacrifice fly. The Cavaliers mounted an ample response, with Harris depositing a ball far over the pavilion in right field to lead off the bottom half.
Senior outfielder Harrison Didawick and sophomore outfielder Zach Jackson crossed the plate on a two-RBI single from junior designated hitter Antonio Perrotta. At nearly the halfway mark of the day’s play, Virginia led VCU by a convincing 4-1 total.
Stammel encountered more difficulty in the fifth, loading the bases on two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Tousa was once again the linchpin, driving in two with a single that prompted Stammel’s exit with two outs in the inning.
Perhaps one of the game’s most impactful phases came in the bottom half of the fifth, as Cavalier bats quieted en route to four straight hitless innings in which Steitz, and then graduate pitcher Everett Vaughan dominated and put the game squarely in the Rams’ favor.
The Rams put a run across in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, with a monstrous long ball to right-center by graduate catcher Teige Lethert seemingly sealing the deal in VCU’s final trip to the plate.
The Cavaliers took advantage when the Rams opted to bring in freshman arm Dawson Newman in the bottom of the ninth. Two early walks set graduate catcher Noah Jouras for further offensive heroics after a deep blast over the center field wall on Friday. Jouras came through with a single up the middle, scoring both runners and tying the game at six.
Virginia’s bullpen buckled down in extra innings, with graduate reliever Tyler Kapa finding himself in another high-leverage situation in his second appearance of the series. He was up to the task, however, retiring the side in order in the 10th and striking out the nine-hole hitter looking with runners at the corners in the 11th.
Junior third baseman Noah Murray, who had entered the game in the ninth as a pinch hitter for sophomore Aiden Harris, started proceedings with a walk in the bottom of the 11th. After a sacrifice bunt and a strikeout, junior shortstop Eric Becker strode to the plate with a chance to put the Cavaliers up for good.
Becker had already fallen victim to the shift three times throughout the day’s play, with the second baseman positioned deep in right field territory. A fourth time hitting the ball into the altered setup resulted in a crucial ninth-inning error that set the stage for the Cavaliers’ comeback.
There was never a doubt where the ball was going to go. Becker drilled it right to the second baseman, who could not come up with it cleanly and made a hurried throw to first that the first baseman could only corral with a left foot barely grazing the runner’s bag in foul territory. He was called safe and Murray, amidst the chaos ensuing on the other side of the infield, snuck home for the game’s winning run.
“I was standing there at second and, as soon as Beck stepped into the box and we had two outs, I was thinking to myself that I am scoring on anything,” Murray said following the game’s thrilling conclusion. “Hats off to Coach Simmons. It’s an amazing send right there and we have to be sending all the way.”
The Cavaliers have one final meeting with VCU tomorrow to ensure a second series sweep of the season, this time at the Rams’ stronghold in Richmond. First pitch will be at 1:00 p.m.
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