Through fire and fury, Virginia outlasts No. 9 Southern Miss in all-time marathon

“I believe in you. I love you.”

That was what hitting coach Eric Tyler told sophomore outfielder Zach Jackson. Tyler encouragingly tapped Jackson on the chest, delivering a simple, calming reminder to a struggling hitter before the game’s biggest moment.

Prior to his at-bat in the 10th inning, Jackson was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. His lone contribution for Virginia was keeping an 11-11 tie intact with a clutch throw to end the eighth inning and prevent another run from scoring.

But with two outs and two runners on, the Cavaliers (37-22, 14-16 ACC) needed a hero. Tyler believed that savior could be Jackson — and as a matter of fact, it was.

Jackson ripped a go-ahead two-RBI single through the left side of the infield to take a 13-11 lead. Moments later, junior utilityman Kyle Johnson spanked a two-run home run and pushed the advantage to what became a final score of 15-11.

Virginia toppled No. 9 Southern Miss, becoming the first team to eliminate a national seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. It was a grueling, chaotic, arduous onslaught of a baseball game. But when it mattered most, the Cavaliers staved off elimination for one more day.

“Our guys came out and really answered the bell,” Coach Chris Pollard said postgame.

The Golden Eagles (44-17, 22-8 Sun Belt) were the hosts of the Hattiesburg Regional. But they dropped an upset to the lowest-seeded of the four-team pool, Little Rock, Friday afternoon. That put Southern Miss on the brink of elimination. A similar story applies to Virginia, which was stomped by Jacksonville State Friday night.

So Saturday afternoon, the top two seeds of the Hattiesburg Regional met in the first game of the loser’s bracket. The result was an absolute barnburner in which the Cavaliers and Golden Eagles combined for 31 hits.

Johnson — who delivered the 10th-inning dagger — started on the mound, but struggled to command the strike zone as he only pitched 2.2 innings and gave up six earned runs. He threw a staggering 79 pitches, which certainly did not help any hopes of Johnson eating up several more innings. The game became a bullpen battle.

It was a three-run homer show early — Southern Miss cranked one off Johnson, Virginia responded with one off of sophomore starter Grayden Harris and the Golden Eagles hit a second three-run blast off Johnson in the third inning.

Despite a healthy dosage of offense, the Cavaliers found themselves trailing by multiple runs entering the fourth inning. That 4-6 deficit, daunting against a top-10 opponent on the road, would not last, though.

Virginia exploded for five runs in the top of the fourth as every starter came to the plate.

Singles by Johnson, junior first baseman Sam Harris and junior third baseman Noah Murray loaded the bases for the leadoff hitter — and with no outs. However, that leadoff shortstop was not junior Eric Becker, the usual occupant. The star Cavalier was hit by a pitch on his left wrist Friday night and was not available to play Saturday. Instead, freshman RJ Holmes was the leadoff shortstop.

Holmes did not disappoint.

Although Holmes was unable to make highlight defensive plays as well as Becker, he contributed time and time again as a batter. In the fourth inning, that meant an RBI single that started another scoring frenzy. Junior outfielder AJ Gracia followed with his first triple of the season, clearing the bases to take a 9-6 lead.

Against a team as talented as the Golden Eagles, a counterattack was inevitable. It came in the form of a two-run frame in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a trio of Southern Miss hits. But yet again, Virginia was equally quick to rebound, plating two runs.

Adding onto the momentum, freshman pitcher John Paone escaped the seventh inning — just the second one-two-three inning by a Virginia pitcher at that point in the game — and he celebrated by pumping his fist and shouting in the direction of the Southern Miss hitter and umpire. Paone was immediately ejected from the game.

There may have been profanity involved, which would lead officials to deem Paone’s actions as verbal taunting. Regardless, that crucial decision by the NCAA officials immediately swung momentum back towards the Golden Eagles, as the Cavaliers’ cruising hurler was instantly removed from the equation.

“It impacted us and it will be something that we learn from,” Pollard said. “Young guys make mistakes, young guys get caught up in the emotion, right? And if there was ever going to be a situation that you get caught up in the emotion, it could be today.”

With Paone removed, Pollard turned to graduate closer Tyler Kapa one inning earlier than usual. Kapa floundered in the eighth inning — surrendering two walks, a pair of singles and a wild pitch. Suddenly, Southern Miss cut the lead to 11-9 and loaded the bases with two outs.

Pollard then turned to graduate reliever Lucas Hartman, who had pitched the previous night. Hartman was able to record a strikeout but then allowed a massive two-run double. It would have plated a third run, but Jackson threw a dart right to Holmes, who perfectly relayed it to junior catcher Jake Weatherspoon to nail a runner at the plate.

The pressure was palpable. For both teams. And it only amplified when they traded scoreless ninths and headed to extra innings.

Then, with everything to gain and everything to lose, Jackson and Johnson etched their names into Virginia baseball history as heroes. A 15-11 win, after more than four hours in the scorching Mississippi sun, belonged to the underdog visitors.

“It was just another at-bat,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t really nervous. And then [Tyler] came up to me, really calmed me down a lot, got me more level headed. [He] told me ‘just see it deep,’ and stick to my approach, and that’s what I did.”

Jackson was not alone in stardom. Johnson and Holmes chipped in a trio of hits each, and Gracia had a program record of five hits in an NCAA Tournament game.

“We talked [the] last couple weeks about just fighting for another day together,” Gracia said. “So that’s kind of where I’m at with that.”

Saturday’s win was not easy. It came at the cost of burning six pitchers — an unideal situation given that the Cavaliers will need to win three games over the next two days to advance to a super regional.

Jacksonville State lost last night, meaning it will face Virginia in an elimination game Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. The winner of that elimination game will advance to the regional final against Little Rock, and will need to beat the Trojans (38-26, 16-11 Ohio Valley) twice given that they are undefeated in Hattiesburg.

Sunday’s starting pitcher for the Cavaliers has yet to be announced. That might take a while given that they used 12 pitchers over the past two days. Then there is another wrinkle — Johnson was ejected on his home run trot, also potentially due to use of profanity. Johnson and Paone will not be allowed to play in the next game, but will be reinstated after.

For the time being, Virginia lives to fight another day. This team earned it.

“We’re going to have to get back to the hotel and just take an assessment of how guys feel, I mean [this game] took a lot out of everybody,” Pollard said. “But it’ll be all hands on deck. It’ll be a one-game season. We’ll try to fight like crazy to get through that one. And we won’t worry about the next one until that one’s over with.”

Through fire and fury, Virginia outlasts No. 9 Southern Miss in all-time marathon

It took six pitchers, 10 innings and over four hours, but the Cavaliers won a game for the ages

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