No. 9 Virginia boasts a top-10 number before its name. Bluntly, this is a team that has earned the right to feel rather gleeful about its postseason hopes. Clemson, on the other hand, is in a unique load of trouble.
Despite fielding a solid record overall, the Tigers currently sit second-worst in the ACC standings. Clemson (25-15, 6-11 ACC) was in desperate need of a series victory — and it kept those hopes alive by evening the series against the Cavaliers Friday, defeating them 5-1.
Virginia (27-13, 11-9 ACC) stayed within striking distance for half of the game before senior reliever Kevin Jaxel surrendered a flurry of runs. The three earned runs tagged on Jaxel were the most he has allowed in over two years. Jaxel had recorded 30 appearances in a row without allowing three runs before the Tigers got to him Friday.
The next relievers did not fare much better.
Freshman Noah Yoder became the third Cavalier pitcher to appear Friday, and his outing was brief. He allowed a single and a walk before his coaching staff pulled him. Yoder did not record an out. Coach Chris Pollard then turned to freshman Thomas Stewart, who made his third career appearance.
Stewart missed all of fall training and most of the preseason with an injury. Friday was his first ACC action, complete with pros and cons. Stewart plunked a batter to load the bases and later walked in a run with the bases loaded. He was eventually able to rebound, concluding his stint with two straight strikeouts to conclude the eighth inning.
Sophomore Michael Yeager came on for the ninth inning — which pushed the team’s pitcher total to five Cavaliers. Like his comrades, he also faced his share of struggles. Yeager threw five straight balls to start his inning of work. Eleven of his 19 pitches were balls, but he did manage to escape the inning unscathed.
The flurry of runs allowed by relief pitchers stained what was a quality evening for junior utilityman Kyle Johnson. The ace of Virginia’s staff tossed 81 pitches — the longest outing of his Cavaliers tenure after working his way back from kinetic chain issues. He finished with a statline of one run allowed in five innings of work, garnished with six strikeouts.
“I thought [reaching 81 pitches] was another great step for Kyle today,” Pollard said.
Johnson held Clemson to just four hits in the first five innings. After he departed the game, the Tigers doubled that number over the next four frames.
Meanwhile, the Cavaliers scored just one run on five hits all evening. Friday marked the third time Virginia has failed to score multiple runs in 39 games this season.
Meanwhile, sophomore catcher Nate Savoie recorded multiple runs all by himself. Savoie went 3-5 with two home runs, tacking on three runs batted in. He found other ways to hurt the Cavaliers as well, including a stolen base plus a quintet of putouts from his catcher position.
Savoie inflicted plenty of damage — but the real gamewrecker was senior pitcher Michael Sharman, who produced a deep eight-inning outing for Clemson. Sharman allowed just seven baserunners Friday, a figure even with his seven strikeouts.
“[Sharman mixed] four pitches for strikes, kind of whenever he wanted,” junior outfielder AJ Gracia said. “And for me, doing that, especially [as a lefty facing a lefty], is extra tough. He just really had control the whole game … No matter who it is out there, it's gonna be a pretty tough matchup if someone's doing that.”
Virginia had its opportunities. In desperate need of a scoring response, Gracia cranked a double down the right field line to put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the eighth inning. Gracia stood at second base with no outs — the Cavaliers had a pristine chance to cut into a growing deficit.
Gracia advanced to third base after junior second baseman Joe Tiroly grounded out, putting a run just 90 feet away from paydirt. But instead of inching closer towards a tie, two of Virginia’s stars struck out. Senior outfielder Harrison Didawick couldn’t stick with a Sharman off-speed pitch, and junior first baseman Sam Harris stared down strike three — walking back to the dugout without any offensive progress.
Four Cavaliers went hitless, including usually productive contributors such as Didawick, Tiroly, junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon and junior infielder Noah Murray. Some of those Virginia sluggers could have avoided going hitless, but sophomore outfielder Bryce Clavon stole a slew of hits away from Virginia thanks to several highlight catches. Clavon caught all three outs to end the ninth inning.
“Those are three perfect swings at the end of the ball game,” Gracia said. “It's just somedays, it's just not going to go your way. [Clavon made] three awesome plays. Not really much else we can do on our side there.”
Despite the loss, players were not frowning postgame. A Pollard-led team does not pout. They immediately turn their attention towards the next game — which, in this case, decides the series in a rubber match Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Read More
Live tracker: Women’s basketball offseason
By Jordan Zimm , Xander Tilock , Sofie Keppler and Cierra Lyles | 2 hours agoSince Virginia women’s basketball decided to part ways with Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, the program currently finds itself in a state of flux ahead of the 2026-27 season.
For Virginia football, a new challenge lies ahead of the spring game — handling success
By Xander Tilock | 5 hours ago“The hardest part is handling success,” Elliott said. “We have to go create this team's identity … We got to start over, we got to double down on our core values and we got to create an identity for this team based off of the foundation that's been laid from a program standpoint."
Pollard’s ejection, Zatkowski’s dominance define series-opening Cavalier win
By Stephen O'Dea | 10 hours ago“The ejection had nothing to do with whether or not that was an infield fly or not,” Pollard said postgame. “I am always going to protect our players and coaches when somebody is verbally abusing them.”
