Johnson made perhaps the loudest contract of the game, launching a home run deep to center field in the eighth inning. It all proved to be too little too late as the sun set and the scoreboard displayed a bruising 13-4 final score.
Junior ace pitcher Kyle Johnson took the mound for the first time this season, serving as an opener for sophomore lefty Henry Zatkowski.
“This is by far, one of the best lineups that I’ve been a part of,” Weatherspoon said. “Being able to be in the nine hole with [Becker] and [Gracia] behind me, [it] gives me confidence that I don’t have to put too much pressure on myself.”
“When we fall behind, we are really good at having a quick answer, and we did that again today,” Pollard said. “That’s what good teams do.”
“We just gave them some free offense,” Pollard said. “We spotted a couple of runners, and you can't do that. Paone will learn and grow from that. But I thought [his] stuff was good. I thought he might have fatigued a little bit there around 60 to 70 pitches.”
Weatherspoon’s first at-bat resulted in a booming home run into the left field bleachers. That plate appearance summed up the afternoon — a 10-5 beatdown of rival Virginia Tech.
Virginia’s power broke out in the bottom of the fifth — Harris reached on an error and Didawick singled before junior infielder Noah Murray turned around a middle-middle breaking ball, driving it into the left field bleachers and putting the Cavaliers on top 6-4.
“It was funny, we were out in the field and Sam and I were talking about going back-to-back next inning,” Tiroly said. “On the first pitch, I was fortunate enough to put a good swing on it and I come back to the plate, tap him on the chest and say ‘alright buddy, your turn.’”
College baseball is a volatile sport. Just this Wednesday, Virginia got mercy ruled by a mid-major team in a midweek contest. Fast forward to this weekend, and the Cavaliers (13-3, 2-1 ACC) just won two of three games against No. 8 North Carolina in their house.
Coach Chris Pollard noted the importance of applying constant pressure to DeCaro, sitting on the fastball and forcing him to rely on his offspeed pitches — resulting in an inflated pitch count that forced North Carolina to rely on its bullpen early in the series.
A clean outing by the pitching staff was essential — and the Cavalier arms largely delivered. Freshman Jayden Stroman allowed Charlotte’s only run off of a wild pitch, but the 49ers did not score for the rest of the evening.
But before these ACC foes give battle, one must first understand the importance of this matchup, by traveling back to the previous one.
The mercy rule defeat is an ugly blemish on the Virginia resume. It stands in stark contrast to the Cavaliers’ other early-season results — mercy rule victory of their own and a sweep of in-state opponent VCU led Virginia to Charlotte with aspirations of national rankings.
“The conversation starts with John Paone. What a terrific start. He really showed complete control,” Pollard said following the game. “I loved his mound presence, and he was able to get the ball to both sides of the plate with run on the fastball to the arm side and a really good shape to the slider.”
“I was standing there at second and, as soon as Beck stepped into the box and we had two outs, I was thinking to myself that I am scoring on anything,” Murray said following the game’s thrilling conclusion.
Following an abbreviated game against George Washington courtesy of an 11-0 run-rule victory, the Cavaliers took the field on Friday afternoon with eyes set on another series sweep as they hosted VCU for the second weekend series of the year.
“I thought it was our most complete performance of the year,” Coach Chris Pollard said. “I thought our approach in the first inning was good, but I thought with two outs in the first, our approach was elite, and stayed on the gas and continued to push runs across.”
For Pollard, Gracia’s loudest trait is not exit velocity or bat speed — it’s the poise. He is as advanced between the ears as he is between the lines.
Virginia’s offense produced fewer than 10 runs for the second time in its first six games, but the primary culprit in the upset loss was the pitching staff and its whopping 12 walks surrendered on the evening.
