The sun was out, the stands filled at Disharoon Park, the Cavaliers’ usual round of pregame hacky-sack went on in front of the home dugout and No. 9 Virginia (19-5, 5-3 ACC) looked to secure a third ACC series win — the vibes were high. Those vibes didn’t last longer than the third inning. No. 24 Wake Forest would take a seven run lead in the third and never look back, securing a 13-4 lead to tie the series.
The Cavaliers had taken a one-run lead in the bottom of the second. Junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon roped a line drive base hit to score fellow junior Kyle Johnson. Johnson had set the table by working and advancing to third base after a throwing error on his stolen base attempt.
The Demon Deacons (17-6, 4-4 ACC) promptly answered. They hung a crooked eight runs in the third to end sophomore lefty Max Stammel’s day on the mound. Junior Javar Williams began the scoring by muscling an opposite-field home run into the bleachers. The home run was the highlight of Williams' monster game at the plate, recording a trio of hits and a pair of walks in his four at bats and amounting 10 total bases on the afternoon.
A walk and a trio of hits later, Stammel found himself backing up home plate on a throw from the outfield. The throw came in high, tipping off of Weatherspoon's mitt, careening towards Stammels face and deflecting off his throwing-hand thumb as he protected himself. Stammel heaved a couple of warmup pitches in front of a trainer and pitching coach Brady Kirkpatrick before retaking the mound. However, Stammel failed to find the zone again, walking another pair of Wake Forest batters before being pulled from the game following another visit from Kirkpatrick and a trainer.
“[Stammel] put his hand up to block the ball, and took the ball off the thumb, and then was really just having a hard time with feel after that,” Coach Chris Pollard said. “So he was throwing a lot better than the box score would indicate, and then, obviously, we didn't do a great job of getting off the field after that.”
Freshman Jayden Stroman proceeded to walk in a pair of runs before surrendering a base hit, scoring another two runs. Finally, a fly ball to senior outfielder Harrison Didawick ended the frame. The Cavaliers faced 14 opposing batters in the frame, walked five of them and gave up five hits.
“It was a bad inning,” Pollard said. “We've been on the right side of a lot of those kinds of innings, and we were on the wrong side of it. You just keep playing.”
In the bottom of the third, junior shortstop Eric Becker gave Virginia hope for an offensive awakening, promptly parking a home run into the right field concourse to begin the frame. However, the Cavalier lineup coughed up the occasional run throughout the rest of the afternoon but failed to chain any momentum together.
That was in no small part due to the electric stuff of Wake Forest’s starter, sophomore Chris Levonas. Before the season, Levonas was listed as the 23rd overall draft prospect for the 2027 MLB draft by PerfectGame. Levonas hurled five innings of two-run ball, touching 100 miles per hour in the first inning on his fastball and flexing his plus slider for five strikeouts.
The Demon Deacon’s offense continued to notch runs against Virginia’s group of seven bullpen arms. Along with Williams, juniors Boston Torres and Blake Schaaf also notched three hits each, adding to the team total of 13 on the afternoon.
After the third, Virginia had a pair of one-run innings but could not capitalize on runners in scoring position late. Johnson made perhaps the loudest contract of the game, launching a home run deep to center field in the eighth inning. It all proved to be too little too late as the sun set and the scoreboard displayed a bruising 13-4 final score.
The Cavaliers look to take the rubber match from Wake Forest tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the third and final game of the weekend. Freshman righty John Paone will take the mound for Virginia to add to his 20-plus innings of work and 4.79 ERA thus far on the season.
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