The Virginia baseball team was cruising along Saturday when the wheels briefly wobbled in the fourth inning. What had been a 4-0 lead fueled by a game-opening leadoff home run from Griff O’Ferrall suddenly dwindled to 4-3. Duke, already leading the Super Regional 1-0, had rallied and a ballgame was brewing.

Until it wasn’t.

The Cavaliers responded immediately with their bats in the top of the fifth inning and doubled their own score to lead 8-3 when the frame ended. The Blue Devils never threatened again and UVA sent the best-of-three series into a winner-take-all Game 3 on Sunday afternoon with a 14-4 final margin.

“Certainly the bottom of the fourth to the top of the fifth was a big swing in the game,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “They did a nice job getting to Connelly [Early] and getting those three runs in the bottom of the fourth and I felt like the game was won when we responded in the top of the fifth. That’s what you have to do at this time of the year. There’s going to be difficult points in the game and you’ve gotta delete it and put it past you and be ready for the next inning and we did that in the top of the fifth inning.”

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