Coming off of a week in which Virginia baseball returned from the balmy conditions of Puerto Rico only to be greeted by a cancelled game in snowy Charlottesville conditions, the Cavaliers (2-2, 0-0 ACC) took another detour from the friendly confines of Disharoon Park this weekend to Round Rock, Texas.
In a compact early-season event where they will get the opportunity to play Minnesota and Oklahoma, the Cavaliers first faced the first noteworthy challenge of this season’s schedule, a chance to prove their pre-season expectations were well-founded in a matchup against No. 7 Oregon State. However, Virginia’s opportunity to claim a resume-boosting win quickly evaporated as the Beavers (5-0, 0-0 Pac 12) silenced the Cavalier offense.
“I think they beat us in every aspect of the game,” Coach Brian O’Connor said postgame. “The scoreboard was 7-2, but it felt like a bigger victory than that, candidly. They were just a lot more competitive than we were.”
Also a key theme, senior Jay Woolfolk turned in an inconsistent performance. Much in the same way that proceedings began in Virginia’s opening day game last Friday, Woolfolk nabbed the start and got off to a hot start. He struck out sophomore infielder Trent Caraway and junior infielder Aiva Arquette before giving up a single and a walk and wrapping up with the strikeout of junior infielder Jacob Krieg.
In the other dugout, junior southpaw Nelson Keljo took the ball for Oregon State and, in the early goings, looked slightly uneasy when he walked junior infielder Henry Godbout. Sophomore outfielder Henry Ford also ripped a single the opposite way, but nothing came to pass, and the first frame was scoreless.
In the top of the second, Woolfolk escaped a bases-loaded jam — but it was becoming clear that it would be another short day for Woolfolk, who had just followed up a 28-pitch first inning with an even more swollen second inning of 30 pitches.
On offense, the back end of Virginia’s order did little to retort, with junior outfielder Aidan Teel, junior outfielder Harrison Didawick and junior infielder Luke Hanson going down in order. After two innings, the score remained 0-0.
Two quick singles off the bats of Oregon State’s junior outfielders Gavin Turley and Dallas Macias once again foretold danger for the Cavaliers, but a perfectly-placed throwdown courtesy of graduate catcher Jacob Ference caught the stealing Macias. Woolfolk then caught Krieg looking at strike three — for the second time of the day — before drawing a weak grounder to Godbout to end the inning.
In desperate need of some action on the scoreboard, Virginia finally struck gold in the bottom of the third. Freshman outfielder James Nunnallee opened the account with a leadoff walk and sophomore shortstop Eric Becker also found himself on-base after he was nailed with a fastball to the elbow. Godbout then put a bunt very nearly in no-man’s land on the left side of the infield but was just barely beaten to the bag, moving his two teammates into scoring position. A Keljo pitch was then peppered the opposite way by junior utility player Chris Arroyo to clear the bases and give the Cavaliers an early 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately, a Ference walk was the only point of production for the rest of the half inning, as Keljo regrouped to keep the Beavers within striking distance.
Only allowing a pair of runs proved to be crucial, as Oregon State answered with an offensive display of their own. An expended Woolfolk gave up two quick singles, which meant the end of the day for the starter after just three full innings. Woolfolk has struggled to go deep into games this year — a troubling trend for a team that needs starting pitching to help balance out an uncharacteristically slow start for its offense thus far.
The next man up was the right-handed junior Joe Colucci, who wasted no time adding to the frenzy with a four-pitch walk. The bases were loaded for Caraway, who went down without a fight for a swinging strikeout. Luckily for Oregon State — and much to the chagrin of Virginia onlookers — Colucci struggled to find the zone and walked Arquette to bring in a run. A wild pitch would send in the second to make it a 2-2 ballgame.
The Cavaliers didn’t offer much in response, with Nunnallee being the lone hitter to reach base in the inning. A Becker strikeout indicated the return of a hot Beaver lineup for the top of the fifth.
Oregon State continued where it left off, getting two quick singles separated by the strikeout of senior catcher Wilson Weber. For Virginia, O’Connor then went to the bullpen again — this time for the ideal matchup against the left-handed junior outfielder Easton Talt.
Senior left-hander Blake Barker got the ball, but did not make much of a difference when Talt reached first base on a walk and junior infielder AJ Singer, the nine-hole hitter, ripped a single to right field. The Beavers tallied two runs, and suddenly held a 4-2 advantage on the scoreboard. To make matters worse, Talt then scored on a Caraway single to extend the Cavaliers’ deficit to three runs.
In dire need of some offense, a quick infield single by Godbout and a wild pitch meant a man on second with no outs, and an Arroyo walk had some momentum finally brewing for the Cavaliers. Runners were at the corners following a fielder’s choice off the bat of Ford, but Ference and Teel couldn’t get the job done — both striking out swinging to end the frame.
After Barker snagged a grounder to get the leadoff man, O’Connor gestured to the bullpen for a third time, calling in graduate transfer Wes Arrington. This would be perhaps the only silver lining of the night, with Arrington, a native of Keswick, Va., grabbing his first Division I strikeout when he retired Krieg.
Arrington successfully silenced the Beaver offense through the rest of the sixth and the entirety of the seventh, maintaining a shred of hope if Virginia’s offensive unit were to come to life.
This was not in the cards. The Cavaliers showed no gumption in the bottom half of the sixth, with Didawick, Hanson and Nunnallee striking out in order. It was much of the same in the seventh, sans two singles from Becker and Arroyo and, before Virginia knew it, it was deep in the hole with just two innings left to play.
After an Arquette blast that sailed over the head of Teel in center for a double followed by the walk of Turley, O’Connor determined that Arrington was done as well. Left-handed senior Dean Kampschror appeared for a brief three-batter cameo that yielded a walk, an RBI single and a sacrifice fly to dig the Cavaliers into a five-run deficit that would remain for the rest of the night.
Teel drew a walk to start the bottom of the eighth, signaling the end of the road for sophomore hurler Eric Segura, who compiled eight strikeouts and conceded just three hits over three-and-a-third innings of work for Oregon State. When sophomore Matthew Morrell took the bump, Didawick, Hanson and Nunnallee yet again came up empty.
The ninth was quiet for both sides, as the Beavers went down in order all the more gleeful to keep the steady lead and get out of the frigid low-30s temperature. In the bottom of the ninth, the Cavaliers’ woeful night came to an end with an apt double play.
The loss is yet another underwhelming result in a precarious four-game start to the season. The Cavaliers are 2-2 and have yet to make a really distinguishable mark that would serve to reinforce the lofty expectations being thrust upon them. Yet again, the starting pitching looked less than reliable and the bullpen didn’t quell the flames, instead allowing Oregon State to heap on the destruction.
On the bright side, it remains a young season and the upcoming matchup against Minnesota Saturday at noon — where sophomore pitcher Bryson Moore, a budding star, will take the mound — will be a chance for Virginia’s coaching staff to make the necessary adjustments. Despite the loss Saturday, this coaching staff will have ample opportunities to get things back on track before the dog days of the season come into full effect.
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