Three big innings helped Virginia take three wins as the No. 3 Cavaliers swept Maryland this weekend.
"Winning a series in this league is very hard to do, and it's even harder to get a sweep," coach Brian O'Connor said.
Winning becomes easier, though, when the team puts up 10 runs in one inning. During a blowout fourth frame Friday, 14 Cavaliers came to the plate and 10 came around to score. Maryland (11-13, 1-8 ACC) entered the game with a.979 fielding percentage, but committed three errors during the inning to hand Virginia eight unearned runs.
"It's such a rarity in baseball to score 10 runs in an inning," O'Connor said. "A lot of guys have to go up there and give you quality at-bats and some balls need to find holes like they did in that inning, and the other team made a few mistakes, too."
The Cavaliers (24-2, 8-1 ACC) did not score again after their offensive explosion, but junior pitcher Danny Hultzen did not need more support. Apart from one blemish in the second inning, Hultzen cut through the Maryland lineup, allowing just four hits while striking out nine in six innings. Junior reliever Shane Halley followed suit by fanning six during his three shutout frames to preserve the 14-1 victory.
"Danny Hultzen - the guy is just a warrior, what a weapon to start a weekend off with him," O'Connor said Friday. "Shane Halley did a tremendous job the last three innings, so fortunately we didn't have to use any of our top guys out of the pen in [junior pitcher Justin] Thompson and [sophomore pitcher Branden] Kline, and they'll be ready to go for [Saturday.]"
Keeping Kline rested for Saturday proved crucial for Virginia as the closer notched not one, but two saves that day. With snow forecasted for Sunday, Virginia played a doubleheader Saturday and won both games 4-2.
After a commanding 14-run performance Friday, the Virginia offense waited eight innings to come alive the next day. Maryland led 2-1 with two away in the eighth but then committed back-to-back errors. Junior third baseman Steven Proscia made the Terrapins pay, hitting a line drive to left for the tying RBI. Senior right fielder Kenny Swab then smacked the ball off the Maryland pitcher's foot. As the ball deflected toward first base, speedy freshman pinch runner Mitchell Shifflett scored from second. Junior first baseman Jared King followed with a single up the middle to give Virginia its winning 4-2 margin.
Saturday's comeback continued a trend for a Virginia team that engineered two late rallies against Florida State last weekend.
"In our dugout, we know that the game is never over until that final out is recorded," Kline said. "It's always interesting because we don't know who's going to step up, but we do know that eventually somebody will."
The Cavaliers again trailed 2-0 to Maryland during the nightcap but did not wait to make their move this time and scored in the second. The inning initially looked like a lost cause for Virginia as King struck out and Proscia was caught stealing for the second out. Shifflett, however, snuck a run-scoring single just past the shortstop's reach, then sophomore shortstop Chris Taylor followed with a two-RBI triple through the shallow Terrapin outfield.
When "King struck out and they threw Proscia out ... a team can look at that and say we missed our opportunity and move on to the next inning," O'Connor said. "But this team doesn't do that. They continue to fight and find a way and fortunately we did in that inning, because it was the only inning we scored the entire game."
The Virginia bats fell quiet for the rest of the game, but senior pitcher Cody Winiarski silenced the Terrapins bats as well. After surrendering two early runs, the righty settled down to blank Maryland through his final five innings. Winiarski posted one of three strong Virginia starts during the weekend as the staff allowed just five runs during the three games.
"I thought our starting pitching was spectacular this weekend ... and that's why we are where we are," O'Connor said. "The teams in this country that can really pitch and play defense are the teams that you see at the top of college baseball."
After sweeping Maryland, Virginia feels it could be the top team in baseball. The No. 3-ranked squad improves to 8-1 in conference and 24-2 overall, a pedigree few, if any, squads can match.
"After 26 games, you look up and you've only lost two ballgames, [and] it's pretty incredible," O'Connor said. "I don't know that there's another team in this country that's done that, so I'm happy where we're at, and I just hope that we can continue to play that kind of baseball"
Read More
72 years in the making, men’s golf’s first ACC title comes in dramatic fashion
By Casey Reims | 2 hours ago"We were dead," Sargent said. "We were beat."
With 10 games left in the regular season, Virginia baseball must be near-perfect
By Emory Huffman , Xander Tilock and Ryan Weiner | YesterdayVirginia has reached the witching hour.
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | YesterdayA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
