After giving up 17 runs in the eighth inning or later during three games at the ACC Tournament last week, the Virginia baseball team turned the tables Friday in the NCAA Tournament. The Hoos scored all of their runs in the seventh inning or later in a 6-1 victory against Southern California.
Virginia needed the late-inning surge to break open a scoreless stalemate through six innings. The Hoos, in fact, had yet to produce a hit entering the seventh inning. USC starter Kyle Davis finally lost the no-hitter in the seventh and UVa held on to the momentum over the last three frames. Davis ended up allowing six runs (three earned), seven hits, and two walks over 8.2 innings.
“Hitting is contagious,” UVa’s Kenny Towns said in The Daily Progress. “Once we kind of broke that seal … we were able to get a couple swings in a row.”
The Cavaliers pushed their first two runs across the plate with the benefit of just one hit, though. In the seventh inning, Matt Thaiss reached base on an error when a groundball got past third baseman Blake Lacey. A sequence of hit-bunt-RBI groundout-wild pitch produced two runs and the 2-0 lead. Towns followed Thaiss with the hit and Pavin Smith moved the runners into scoring position with his first sacrifice bunt of the year. Robbie Coman hit the ball off of Davis at the mound to score Thaiss and Towns came home when Davis bounced a pitch past home plate. The Wahoos added a run in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth inning to reach the final score.
“I was kind of mad at myself,” Davis told reporters. “I thought I pitched well. I didn’t pitch well late.”
UVa’s pitching proved stellar throughout the game. Starter Connor Jones allowed one run, five hits, and two walks over 7.2 innings of work. Jones, who has gone at least 7.2 innings in six straight starts, struck out four batters. Josh Sborz, back in his closer role at the start of the NCAA Tournament, wrapped up the game with his 13th save of the season. Sborz pitched 1.1 innings and tallied one strikeout.
With a relatively thin bullpen that struggled in the ACC Tournament and no definitive third starter with Nathan Kirby still out after an injury in April, that pitching performance was critical for the Hoos. It saved arms for the upcoming games and kept Sborz as an option thanks to a low pitch count against the Trojans.
“When you’re in an NCAA Regional, you need your game-one starter to pitch deep into the game, and certainly Connor did that for us. He was fantastic,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Ever since Nathan Kirby went down for us, Connor has moved into that Friday role and has been terrific.”
The win sent UVa into the winner’s bracket of the Lake Elsinore Regional, a huge advantage in the double elimination format. The Cavaliers face San Diego State at 10 p.m. ET on Saturday night. The game can be viewed via ESPN3.
