Three weeks from tomorrow, the NCAA Tournament bracket will be released.
Well before that happens, Coach Chris Pollard said he wants his Virginia baseball team to “get back in the lab.” The No. 23 Cavaliers (32-16, 12-12 ACC) have a chance to do so thanks to an 11-day break from ACC play.
Virginia certainly got back to its previous level of play in a Sunday doubleheader against Radford. The Cavaliers took both games, winning 11-1 and 14-5.
The baseball was buzzing at Disharoon Park early on — Virginia scored double-digit runs for the first time since April 12 in the first act of the doubleheader. It was a mercy rule victory, as the Cavaliers held a 10-run lead after seven innings.
Junior ace Kyle Johnson got the start on the mound to open Sunday’s extended action at the Dish. He retired the first six Highlanders he faced, although he ended up allowing one run in the third due to a pair of Radford hits.
Aside from that third inning, though, Sunday was one of Johnson’s best starts this season. He cruised through five innings, surrendering just three baserunners out of 17 Highlander batters faced. Johnson did not issue any walks.
It was a strong rebound for Johnson, who allowed five walks and five hits through just two innings of work in a blowout defeat at Pitt last weekend. That individual outing yielded an earned run average of 31.50, the third-worst of Johnson’s career.
After Johnson’s outing was over, sophomore Henry Zatkowski pitched the final two innings — keeping the Highlanders off the scoreboard even though he issued two walks and allowed a pair of hits.
Sunday marked a rebound for Virginia’s hitters as well, as eight of them recorded a hit.
A trio of solo homers by juniors kickstarted the Cavalier offense in the third inning — second baseman Joe Tiroly blasted his first, immediately followed by junior first baseman Sam Harris before junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon eventually completed the trifecta.
Even after that potent display of power at the plate, the real damage was done through a mammoth seven-run inning in the bottom of the sixth. It was such a dominant showing that junior designated hitter Antonio Perrotta recorded both the first out and the final out of the frame.
Junior third baseman Noah Murray got Virginia going with a single, quickly followed by another from junior outfielder AJ Gracia. That bloop single into left field broke an 0-10 streak for Gracia at the plate since returning from his upper body injury April 26 at Pitt.
Sam Harris kept things rolling with a two-RBI single, followed by a two-run opposite-field homer from senior outfielder Harrison Didawick. Then came a single from Weatherspoon — and another two-run homer, this one blasted by sophomore outfielder Zach Jackson.
To start the bottom of the seventh inning, Murray walked and Gracia doubled. Then junior second baseman Joe Tiroly called game — his single scored Murray and the mercy rule went into effect.
“For us, it’s just about sticking to our process,” Tiroly said postgame. “Just making the adjustments that I needed to.”
The second game went the full distance, but it was not much closer than the first. Early on, Radford appeared motivated by the 1 p.m. beatdown — with freshman John Paone starting on the mound for Virginia, the Highlanders took advantage of mistakes by the Cavaliers.
The leadoff man reached on an error by Sam Harris. A catcher’s interference call put another runner on base. Then, junior utilityman Breckin Nace took Paone deep to give Radford a 3-0 lead in the first.
The Highlanders could only hang with Virginia for so long, though. A five-run second inning put the Cavaliers right back in command, powered in part by a three-run double off the bat of Tiroly.
Paone worked three innings and allowed one more run after the three-run first — despite the crooked number, none of the righty’s four runs allowed were earned. Ultimately, Paone’s outing is better characterized by the five strikeouts and four hits allowed.
The runs continued to come in bunches for Virginia. Tiroly added another RBI on a double, and Didawick tacked on two more with a triple en route to a three-run fourth. Four more runs came in the next inning as a collection of hit batsmen, errors, singles and sacrifice flies put the Cavaliers up 12-4 at the end of the fifth.
The Virginia pitchers dominated Radford by committee following Paone’s departure. Sophomore lefty Max Stammel worked two innings and allowed one more unearned run, earning the win. A collection of bullpen arms worked clean frames to keep the Highlanders at five runs.
Freshman catcher Thomas O’Connell got in on the action in the seventh, driving in another run on a single up the middle that the center fielder could not handle. Jackson capped off the scoring with Virginia’s 14th run, a fielder’s choice to score O’Connell.
After cancelling last week’s game versus Norfolk State, Virginia took care of another in-state opponent Sunday — ranked 140th in RPI, Radford presented no challenge for the Cavaliers.
“Radford has struggled at times to score runs, but they’ve thrown the ball well,” Coach Pollard said. “I love the way we were able to shift the offensive approach over the course of [game one] and then continue it in game two.”
Though the final scores were lopsided, Virginia played far from its best baseball Sunday. After a relatively clean defensive showing in game one — recording a single error — the defense imploded in game two, recording six errors. Still, the offense did more than enough to overcome the miscues.
Virginia gets to rest for most of the week. The Cavaliers return to action Friday in their final home series of the season — a three-game set with California. Sitting squarely at .500 in ACC play, Virginia’s final two ACC series are vital opportunities to boost its resume ahead of ACC and NCAA Tournament play.
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