On the final day of spring classes, the weather did not cooperate. It was an unusually chilly and damp Tuesday, which resulted in sparse attendance at Disharoon Park for a midweek clash with George Mason. However, the semesterly celebrations did not cease on Grounds — if anything, No. 23 Virginia baseball made one of its own.
The Cavaliers (30-16, 12-12 ACC) celebrated the end of a three-game losing skid, returning to the win column for the first time since Wednesday. Virginia bested the Patriots (19-23, 10-11 Atlantic 10) by a score of 5-1 at the Dish.
Tuesday’s victory was a recalibration for the pitching staff, as the Cavalier hurlers did not give up a walk all evening.
“I thought it was a really really well pitched game, and a really well called game by [pitching coach] Brady Kirkpatrick,” Coach Chris Pollard said.
Sophomore starter Max Stammel did not allow any earned runs — George Mason’s lone run was unearned — and Stammel cruised through four innings of work while allowing just one hit. After Stammel was done, Virginia’s bullpen only gave up three hits in the final five innings.
However, the Patriots are a mid-major team with a losing record. Mowing down their offense is impressive but should be taken with a light grain of salt. Equally, teeing off of the George Mason pitching staff is not the same as blasting an ACC opponent.
But for a Cavalier squad that took its lumps in a brutal sweep at Pitt last weekend, a win of any variety is worth its weight in gold.
“We approach this as a one-game season,” Pollard said. “I told our guys today, I said ‘look, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, and you’re all here, so we all survived it and we’re tougher for the experience of going through this weekend.’ It'll help us build resilience. There are things that we can learn from it.”
Notably, Virginia’s offense hit the five-run mark for just the third time in its past seven games. Potent offense is a hallmark of Cavalier baseball, but it has come and gone during this extended final stretch of the regular season.
George Mason surprisingly struck first Tuesday — taking a 1-0 lead thanks to a strange sequence of events. Junior catcher Vincent Cowdrey found himself on first base after he singled through the left side of the infield, but then Stammel let Cowdrey sprint to third base after a fielder’s choice turned into a throwing error by Stammel.
Instead of nailing Cowdrey at second, Stammel accidentally launched the ball into centerfield. Cowdrey then ran home on a sacrifice fly. Virginia’s starter was able to rebound, though, as he responded by including a lineout and strikeout to escape the third with just a one-run deficit.
Junior second baseman Joe Tiroly fixed the deficit himself.
Given a fastball just a bit inside the heart of the plate, Tiroly smacked the baseball deep into the left field bleachers — tying the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Cavaliers scored through some small ball.
Sophomore outfielder Zach Jackson worked a full count before being hit by a pitch. He then advanced to second on a balk, and later stole third. Next, junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon was plunked by a pitch — and freshman infielder RJ Holmes executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Jackson.
“For me, the player of the game is RJ Holmes,” Pollard said. “I'm just really really proud of the player that he's growing into and how he's taken advantage of this opportunity that he’s got.”
Virginia’s offense kept rolling in the fifth, as doubles from junior first baseman Sam Harris and junior utilityman Kyle Johnson resulted in another run. However, with a 3-1 lead, the Cavaliers were not satisfied.
They added two more runs in the seventh inning — Tiroly singled, Jackson walked and Weatherspoon drove them both in with a double. That hit brought the score to 5-1, which became the final tally when graduate reliever Tyler Kapa picked up a save in the ninth.
Graduate reliever Lucas Hartman earned the win for his 2.1 innings of work in which he fanned three Patriots and only allowed a pair of hits. Hartman now boasts a 9-2 record on the season.
The Cavaliers, having dropped out of a top-15 ranking for the first time in eight weeks, are back on the right track with nine games left to play in the regular season. Of those nine games, the next six are all at home — part of Virginia’s longest homestand this year.
Wednesday’s game against Norfolk State was canceled, so the Cavaliers’ next bout comes Sunday against Radford at 1 p.m. That contest is the first act of a double header, which continues 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.
For now, though, Virginia gets a rare four-day break from game action.
“Honestly, I'm looking forward to being able to get back into a practice setting during [a break for] exams and work on some things that we need to work on,” Pollard said. “But in the meantime, we’ll sleep quick and get ready to go for tomorrow.”
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