The Virginia baseball team lost two of the three games of this past weekend’s road series at Wake Forest. Sunday’s game marked the end of the regular season for the Cavaliers (28-24, 11-18 ACC), who will begin the ACC Tournament this week as the No. 10 seed.
Wake Forest (25-30, 13-17 ACC) defeated Virginia 7-3 Thursday behind two home runs from freshman left fielder Chris Lanzilli. Junior first baseman Nate Eikhoff went two-for-two with two walks, an RBI and a run scored for the Cavaliers.
On Friday, Virginia hit four home runs and scored nine runs in the ninth inning to beat the Demon Deacons 15-3.
Junior first baseman Jack Weiller hit two home runs in the ninth — the first of his collegiate career. Weiller went two-for-three with four RBIs and two runs scored after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the fifth inning.
Junior second baseman Andy Weber and freshman right fielder Alex Tappen provided the other two home runs for the Cavaliers, both coming with two outs in the first inning.
Virginia starting pitcher Noah Murdock, a sophomore righthander, went four innings Friday, giving up one run on four hits. Freshman left-handed pitcher Andrew Abbott threw for three and one-third innings of one-hit scoreless relief.
Saturday’s game, an 18-12 loss for the Cavaliers, was the longest nine-inning game in Virginia baseball history — lasting four hours and 48 minutes.
The Cavaliers recorded a season-high 17 hits, including four for junior center fielder Jake McCarthy, equaling his career high. McCarthy was four-for-six with three RBIs for the day.
Wake Forest hit five home runs Saturday, scoring seven runs in the first two innings off sophomore right-handed pitcher Bobby Nicholson and graduate right-handed pitcher Mack Meyer.
However, in the sixth inning, Virginia scored five times to close the Demon Deacons’ lead to one run. Weiller hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer to right field for his third home run in three at-bats. His next time at the plate, in the eighth inning, Weiller hit the wall in right field and had to settle for a double.
The game entered the bottom of the eighth with Wake Forest still only ahead by a run, 13-12. However, the Demon Deacons scored five runs off senior left-handed pitcher Bennett Sousa and junior right-handed pitcher Grant Donahue to make the game 18-12, the eventual final score.
Though their regular season is now over, the Cavaliers clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament Thursday night with Virginia Tech’s loss to North Carolina — finishing with the 10th-best record in the league.
The tournament begins Tuesday in Durham, N.C. against No. 6-seeded Florida State. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
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