After narrowly missing a walk-off win Friday in the opener of the Charlottesville Super Regional, the Virginia baseball team left no doubt the rest of the weekend.
The Cavaliers erupted to score double digit runs for the second straight game with their season on the line and easily dispatched Duke 12-2 on Sunday in the winner-take-all Game 3. The formula was the same as Saturday’s 14-4 win: get a lead early, respond to a rally in a key inning, and then step on the gas late to finish it off. In the end, Virginia outscored Duke 26-6 in two elimination situations.
The reward: a trip to the College World Series in Omaha. UVA clinched its sixth bid to the college baseball showcase in the Brian O’Connor era.
“Getting to Omaha is very difficult to do. It takes a lot of things, it takes a lot more than just talent, and that’s why I’m so proud of these players that wear our uniform,” O’Connor said. “To lose Game 1 on Friday afternoon the way we lost, having a lead late in the game and not being able to hold it – credit to Duke, but I think it says more about the character and the determination and competitive spirit of this team.”
That was on display quickly again Sunday.
After both teams threatened in the first inning, the Hoos put the pressure on the Blue Devils with a big second inning. In the top half, Virginia starting pitcher Brian Edgington struck out the side as the start of a big day for the sixth-year senior. Then the offense came through in the bottom half with a 5-run outburst, the most by either team during the Super’s three games.
UVA right fielder Casey Saucke led off the inning with a double, which designated hitter Anthony Stephan followed with a walk. Second baseman Henry Godbout moved the runners over with a bunt to set the table and the next 6 batters all had successful plate appearances to take advantage.
In order, left fielder Harrison Didawick, shortstop Griff O’Ferrall, and center fielder Ethan O’Donnell singled to quickly make it 3-0. Didawick’s hit may have been the most crucial as it barely cleared the leaping attempt of Duke shortstop Alex Mooney, the ball ticking off his glove and into the outfield. That plated a run when a Mooney superstar catch instead potentially could have snuffed out the brewing trouble.
Virginia third baseman Jake Gelof followed the string of singles with a walk to load the bases and catcher Kyle Teel smacked a single to right field to bring two more home for a 5-0 lead. After Ethan Anderson walked to complete the streak, a double play finally ended the inning.
But the damage had been done and Duke had to play catchup the rest of the afternoon in front of a rowdy crowd.
“I’ve never felt the energy like that than this weekend,” O’Ferrall said of taking early leads the last two days. “Especially having the opportunity to be the away team at home yesterday and start offensively was a different feel, but when that crowd got going and we started creating havoc in the first inning, you get that feeling that it’s going to be a good day. That crowd was incredible all weekend.”
While the visiting Devils hung in there as the teams traded scoreless frames in the third, fourth, and fifth, making a comeback proved difficult thanks to the play of Edgington.
As noted above, Edgington got hot in the second inning with 3 strikeouts and he generally limited trouble throughout the day. Duke had two base runners in the third and seventh, but didn’t score and only managed runs in one inning, the sixth. Otherwise, he shut down the Blue Devils and really any hopes they had of breaking a 62-year drought at the College World Series.
Edgington scattered 9 hits and posted 11 strikeouts against just 1 walk. He went the distance, pitching all 9 innings on an efficient 114 pitches. The Third-Team All-ACC selection matched his season-high for strikeouts in what was just the second complete game of his career.
“I had my splitter working today, which is typically my best pitch so having that was good,” Edgington said. “I just kind of stuck to the game plan, attacking hitters, and obviously we have a great offense so just doing my part to throw up 0’s or 1’s and keep us in the game.”
The only breakthrough for Duke came in the sixth inning when it posted 2 runs on back-to-back hits. Third baseman Andrew Fischer singled with one out and Jay Beshears followed with a home run blast, his 15th of the season, to bring home both runs. Edgington allowed one more single in the inning, but it came between a flyout and a strikeout so it offered minimal threat.
Still, after a scoreless middle part of the game, Virginia still only led 5-2 at that moment and the Blue Devils had finally found a little life. In a carbon copy of a big Duke inning on Saturday, however, UVA immediately answered.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, O’Ferrall started the response with a leadoff single. O’Donnell followed with an intended sacrifice bunt, but the Devils misplayed the ball and the error put two runners on with no outs. The heart of the Cavaliers’ order didn’t miss the chance to pounce on that mistake.
Gelof singled to right center field to bring in O’Ferrall, while Teel beat out a potential double play grounder in his at-bat and O’Donnell scored. Anderson, exactly as he did on Saturday, came up next and sent a ball sailing over the wall for a 2-run homer that made it a 4-run inning. The only difference is that the switch-hitting first baseman had connected from the left side the day before.
“It’s huge,” O’Ferrall said of bouncing back with a quick answer again Sunday. “I think one thing that I realized a lot this year is how playoff baseball is so momentum driven, especially in front of a crowd like this. So when we got punched, being able to punch right back in the next opportunity that we had at the plate just really evened the playing field back up and got this crowd back into it.”
“Our ability to respond, be resilient, and not sit around and feel sorry for ourselves is a great quality to have,” O’Connor said. “Resiliency is an incredible quality for any of us to have in life because this game is a small microcosm of life. Life deals us all difficult blows at times and challenges.”
From that moment, the rest of the day amounted to waiting for a celebration, but the Hoos added 2 runs in the seventh and another in the eighth for good measure. In the end, they produced 16 hits with 9 players logging at least one. They hit .432 in the game, .450 with runners on base, .412 with runners in scoring position, and .364 with 2 outs.
O’Ferrall went 4-5 with an RBI and 2 runs scored, while O’Donnell went 3-4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Teel finished 2-5 with 4 RBI, while Anderson went 1-2 with 2 RBI and a run scored while drawing 3 walks. Stephan went 2-3 with a solo home run for the second straight game.
Between all that offense, the complete game from Edgington, and a 6th trip to the College World Series, the fans at Disharoon Park were understandably in a good mood as the team dogpiled on the field. Omaha chants started to ring out in the ninth along with ‘Hoos in 3’ and fans lined Davenport Field’s walls for high fives from the players as well.
O’Connor beamed as he recounted the program’s most recent success.
“Every team is different,” O’Connor said. “We’re grateful that this is the sixth time we’ve had a chance to play in Omaha and a chance to compete for the National Championship. This team is certainly special in its own way. To see what Brian Edgington did today, that’s what this is about. It’s about giving them an opportunity to wear this uniform, an opportunity to compete, an opportunity for them to shine and rise up at the biggest moments on the biggest stage. Our team as a whole did that today.”
