With the highly-anticipated Luke Combs concert set to take place at Scott Stadium, the energy in Charlottesville was palpable. To avoid crushing traffic and to let fans make it to the performance, the rubber match between No. 10 Virginia and No. 7 Florida State was moved to an early 11 a.m. start time.
The Cavalier offense (24-9, 8-7 ACC) seemingly slept in, snoozing through seven innings of scoreless ball before jolting awake in the eighth. The nine-run deficit, though, was too large to overcome in the final innings, dropping their second straight series and their first to a ranked opponent with a 9-3 loss.
The cold start continued a troubling trend for Virginia — in its previous five ACC games, the team hit a combined .192 and struck out 40 times. The Cavaliers have struggled to produce offensively against starting pitching, letting starters get deep into games and seeing the best bullpen arms opponents have to offer.
“I think we need to recommit to our game plans,” Coach Chris 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.”
Junior Bryson Moore, who spent his first two seasons pitching for the Cavaliers, hurled a career game for the Seminoles (24-7, 9-3 ACC). In seven innings of work, Moore conceded just a pair of hits and fanned seven hitters in a shutout display. Moore clearly looked comfortable in his former home ballpark, needing just 85 pitches to get through seven frames.
“[Moore is] a really talented pitcher and just attacked us,” junior designated hitter Antonio Perrotta said of his former teammate. “I've obviously known him for a long time, and he did a great job today attacking our weaknesses. Credit to him for having a good outing.”
Virginia put pressure on Moore early. A pair of leadoff base hits in the second presented an excellent scoring opportunity, but a tailor-made double-play ball and a groundout would end the inning without a runner even making it to third. From there Moore really settled in, retiring 13 straight batters — a streak that lasted until the sixth inning.
“I thought we lost our competitive fight in the middle of that ball game,” Pollard said. “We got down, but we got a really good offense, we get to the bullpen and put up a big inning and all of a sudden, you’re right back in it. But we looked like we got on our heels in the middle there. That was uncharacteristic.”
Freshman starter John Paone had a tough day on the mound. He started off hot in the first, getting up to an adrenaline-fueled 97 miles per hour on his fastball. That adrenaline seemed to wear off in the second. As Paone settled in, so did the Seminole offense — Paone ended with four earned runs in less than three innings of work, leaving the game with the loss and a bruised earned run average.
Graduate Lucas Hartman, who was recently named a midseason All-American by PerfectGame, took the ball with the responsibility of quelling the Florida State offense. He looked strong until the fifth, where a walk, a base hit and a double from slumping leadoff man Chase Williams plated a pair.
The rest of the game was pitched by a mop-up crew of junior Matt Augustin, senior Joe Colucci, freshman Christian Lucarelli and freshman Jayden Stroman. Colucci was tagged with the final three earned runs Florida State scored in the nine-run performance.
In the eighth, Moore exited the game in favor of junior Brodie Purcell. Junior Kyle Johnson started the Cavalier ambush by skying a fly ball to straightaway center field. The ball seemed to drift back forever before settling just out of reach of junior centerfielder Brayden Dowd for a home run.
Perrotta made it back-to-back home runs with a loud fly ball to left field. The drive went careening into the Virginia bullpen, where Stroman snagged it while warming up to enter the game in the ninth.
In the ninth, junior second baseman Joe Tiroly added the third and final home run of Virginia’s shellacking of Purcell. His shot to left brought the Cavaliers’ run total to three, where it would end the day.
Senior Gabe Nard, a former Duke reliever under Pollard, would close the game for the Seminoles, sealing a 9-3 series-determining loss for Virginia.
The Cavaliers will look to get back into the win column Tuesday, hosting in-state rival James Madison for the midweek showdown.
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