Coming fresh off of nationwide recognition upon their ascent to the No. 14 position in the most recent D1Baseball rankings and a visiting series win against an elite North Carolina team, Virginia returned to Charlottesville with eyes set on defending their new standing.
The Cavaliers (14-3, 2-1 ACC) welcomed William & Mary Tuesday for a midweek intrastate clash. In stark contrast to Virginia’s revelatory weekend, the Tribe (5-9, 0-3 CAA) arrived at Disharoon Park coming off of a disastrous week that saw them lose to VCU and suffer a three-game sweep to conference opponent Campbell.
Coach Chris Pollard handed the ball to freshman Jayden Stroman for his third straight midweek start, which would end up being a strong two innings with no hits and just one walk. On the other side of the diamond, William & Mary opted for the freshman southpaw Charlie Richwine.
Seven hitters came to the plate for the Cavaliers in the bottom of the first on the way to a two-run opening frame. Junior infielder Eric Becker found himself on first with a leadoff hit to left. It didn’t take long for him to return to the dugout, however, as outfielder AJ Gracia laced a ball into the gap in left center for an RBI double.
Another well-hit ball off the bat of junior infielder Joe Tiroly appeared to be sailing over the centerfield wall, only to be corralled by freshman outfielder Chase Ecker against the fence enclosing the clubhouse pavilion for a robbery. With Gracia on third and junior first baseman Sam Harris on first, Richwine balked to bring another run home.
The top of the William & Mary order caused damage in the top of the third, with sophomore Jamie Laskofski hitting a ball to the opposite field that narrowly escaped the leaping grasp of senior outfielder Harrison Didawick and ran all the way to the left field wall. A miscue in collecting the ball allowed Laskofski to continue to third, eventually crossing the plate on a groundball to Tiroly at second.
The bats fell quiet for Virginia, with the Cavaliers unable to register another hit until the fourth inning. When the chance came, though, they pounced. Tribe manager Rob McCoy opted for a change in the bottom of the fourth, calling on another freshman arm in Connor Jernigan. Three of the first six Cavalier batters Jernigan faced reached base after being hit by pitches.
After graduate catcher Noah Jouras scored on yet another hit-by-pitch, Becker came home on a single that squeaked through the 5-6 hole off the bat of Harris. The subsequent hit courtesy of Didawick proved identical, with a hard-hit grounder into left bringing Tiroly across. When all was said and done, the Cavaliers had batted around and piled on five runs.
The Tribe were quick to respond at the plate in the top of the fifth. Three straight walks from junior Drew Koenen meant the bases were loaded with no outs when graduate student Lucas Hartman entered in relief. Laskofski scored on a grounder to third and a single to right from freshman outfielder Chase Ecker brought home the last two inherited runners. The Cavaliers entered the bottom half clinging to a 7-5 advantage.
The point of separation would come in the sixth, when Tiroly and Harris launched two monstrous homeruns on back-to-back pitches to start the inning. Tiroly’s cleared the left field bleachers by a substantial margin and, to the onlookers at The Dish, it appeared as though Harris’ line drive hadn’t yet reached its apex as it passed the top of the batter’s eye in center field.
It isn’t certain that senior outfielder Charlie Iriotakis was looking to match the titan efforts of the preceding inning but, regardless of intent, the result was all the same. The lefty, following two ugly strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings, pulled a ball far over the pavilion in left field for a two-run homerun, once again shrinking the Cavalier lead to just two.
Graduate closer Tyler Kapa took the ball with two outs in the top of the eighth and didn’t look back, striking out the side in the top of the ninth to secure the Cavaliers their 14th win of the season.
In a midday game, a situation that has caused nervy phases of play for Virginia more than once so far this year, some recurring patterns appeared once again. The Cavaliers’ pitchers walked seven batters and hit another, yet another sign of volatility in a pitching staff that continues to gear up for the heart of ACC play. However, Coach Pollard didn’t appear too concerned following the game.
“Drew Koenen hadn’t been on the mound in a couple of weeks with a lat injury, so there was some rust there. I think Stroman and Yoder are learning how to pitch multiple times in a week and what goes into the recovery from that,” Pollard said. “I thought it was a great job by Lucas Hartman to come in and minimize the damage and give us a clean sixth. I thought it was a great job by Kapa of coming in and picking up Kevin Jaxel.”
Regardless of pitching woes, the Cavaliers are certainly lucky to have the likes of Tiroly and Harris in the middle of the order to supply a spark in pivotal moments.
“It was funny, we were out in the field and Sam and I were talking about going back-to-back next inning,” Tiroly said. “On the first pitch, I was fortunate enough to put a good swing on it and I come back to the plate, tap him on the chest and say ‘alright buddy, your turn.’”
Virginia Tech comes to town this upcoming weekend for the Commonwealth Clash and the Cavaliers’ second ACC series of the season. A 4 p.m. first pitch kicks things off Friday afternoon, with coverage available on ACC Network.
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