If anyone started driving to Richmond at the start of the fourth inning, they probably would have made some half-decent progress before its conclusion. They certainly would have made it well outside the farthest corners of Charlottesville. That is because during the fourth inning, Virginia batted around and then some.
The Cavaliers (34-18, 13-14 ACC), hosting the Spiders (30-22, 17-10 Atlantic 10), cooked up a feast’s worth of runs Tuesday — treating the fans at Disharoon Park to an 18-6 win. Six of those runs came in the bottom of the fourth inning.
“We knew it was a matter of time to get to the other side of [an April slump] and get back to a good place,” Coach Chris Pollard said postgame. “Offensively, I've been excited to see that.”
The fourth-inning surge started with a walk by junior third baseman Noah Murray. Later in the same inning, Murray walked his way to first base for the second time. By inning’s end, 12 Cavaliers recorded a plate appearance. In most games, that sixth-inning barrage would have been a game-clinching dagger. However, Richmond avoided a mercy rule loss all the way until the eighth inning.
Both teams lit up the scoreboard through a combination of walks and extra base hits. This game was many things — but a pitcher’s duel was not one of them.
On the Spiders’ first pitch of the game, junior first baseman Antonio Perrotta was hit. Junior second baseman Joe Tiroly continued the progress with a walk sandwiched in between a pair of outs. Then, just as Richmond scored an error-built run earlier, Virginia got one back. Junior utilityman Sam Harris — starting in right field today — struck out, but a passed ball from graduate catcher Dylan Winebrenner allowed a run to score. When the ball careened past Winebrenner, Perrotta ran home, Tiroly advanced to second base and Harris found his way to first.
Then junior utilityman Kyle Johnson walked to load the bases with two outs. At a crucial moment in the game, the Spiders did not record an out. Instead, Richmond hit freshman shortstop RJ Holmes, which drove in a run for a 2-1 lead. Richmond then sent its bullpen team out to warm up.
Freshman catcher Thomas O'Connell continued the surge — recording Virginia’s first hit, a two-RBI single. By inning’s end, the Cavaliers led 4-1 even though they tallied just one hit in the frame. All four runs were scored with two outs.
Back in the field, Stammel managed to record a pair of strikeouts but he also loaded the bases on walks. His afternoon ended after 53 pitches in 1.2 innings pitched. Then senior Kevin Jaxel took over, retiring the talented Winebrenner.
Just as Stammel ended early, so did Richmond’s graduate hurler Khristopher Morris. In came freshman Aaron Van Tuyle — who promptly coughed up a sharp single from Murray. Perrotta then cranked a ball deep into right centerfield, but the wind did not help him out there. A great catch by sophomore outfielder Trevor Dosenbach took a potential extra base hit away.
AJ Gracia, however, left no doubt about his deep ball. The junior centerfielder received a breaking ball that did not break enough, and it came in at an elderly 78 miles per hour. A pitch like that, right in a superstar’s wheelhouse, comes with a predictable ending — a booming home run. Gracia jacked one right into the Cavalier bullpen at 105 miles per hour to gift free Big Macs for the home fans and propel Virginia to a 6-1 lead.
Next up in the top of the third inning, Jaxel quickly tallied two outs. But a single, walk and two-RBI double swiftly turned the pressure up on the senior reliever. Luckily for Jaxel, though, senior outfielder Harrison Didawick made a gorgeous diving catch in left field to curb the Richmond rally.
Jaxel’s afternoon was a short one as freshman Christian Lucarelli got a turn. He ended up frying star freshman slugger Evan Wilson, who finished with three swinging strikeouts.
Then came the onslaught in the fourth.
After Perrotta missed out on a home run earlier, he smashed an inside changeup so hard that it soared over the bullpen and even cleared the concourse. His two-run homer advanced Virginia’s lead to a commanding 8-3 advantage.
“[Perrotta] is one of, if not the best competitor on the team,” Pollard said. “He's given us really competitive fight.”
Then Gracia skied one rather high into shallow right field, where senior second baseman Mike Elko could not track it with the sun in his face. Gracia found himself standing on second base with a double — not an error by Elko. After a Tiroly walk, graduate outfielder RJ Johnson Jr. lost a ball in the sun out in left field, so Didawick found himself safe at first with the bases loaded.
An RBI walk from Harris led to a 9-3 lead. There were still no outs — freshman shortstop RJ Holmes took advantage, slashing a two-RBI double to deep left field. Freshman catcher Thomas O’Connell finished the attack with a sacrifice fly to take a 12-3 lead.
After four innings of play, it certainly seemed plausible that the Cavaliers would end the game early with a mercy-rule win. The Spiders had other plans.
Sophomore outfielder Trevor Dosenbach cranked a three-run homer off of junior Matt Augustin to cut Virginia’s lead down to 12-6 — below the 10-run requirement for a mercy rule. After that hit, though, the run party cooled off except for when Didawick pushed the lead up to 13-6 with an RBI double in the bottom of the seventh.
Graduate reliever Lucas Hartman cruised through two innings in his 31st appearance of the season — ending both of those innings through electric double plays. Hartman kept the 13-6 score intact, but the Spiders bullpen could not do the same.
Three straight walks from the bottom of the order led to the sixth plate appearance for Perrotta, who lifted a sacrifice fly into centerfield for a 14-6 advantage. Gracia then walked to reload the bases. It would not take long for another run to cross, as Tiroly was subsequently hit by a pitch.
Finally, after three and a half hours, Didawick called game in the bottom of the eighth — crushing a three-RBI triple to end the game with an 18-6 mercy-rule designation. His final regular-season home game ended with a celebratory teammate mob.
“Today was definitely a good day,” Gracia said. “It's about consistency, so we got to go into the weekend, continue what we did today. But today was definitely good, [a] good step in the right direction.”
Up next, Virginia hits the road for its final ACC series against Louisville. Action begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at Jim Patterson Stadium in Louisville, Ky. The three-game set marks the end of regular season play — and the start of a season-defining stretch for the Cavaliers.
“Louisville is going to go on their runs,” Pollard said. “They're going to score their runs, they're streaky and explosive, and you got to weather that out. But at the same time, we know that we'll have some spots where we can put up crooked numbers too.”
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