No. 23 Virginia has had to fight for everything this season. Against solid Division I competition, nothing has come easily. The losses have been disheartening and often unexpected, and the wins have been hard-fought and close.
Saturday’s matchup versus California was no exception. The Cavaliers (11-6, 2-3 ACC) played eight innings of uninspired baseball but turned the game on its head in the ninth inning, posting eight runs to stun the Golden Bears (9-9, 2-3 ACC) and even the series at one game apiece.
“We’ve been searching a little bit for something to bring us together, a big, marquee win, and this was it,” Coach Brian O’Connor said. “Sometimes it’s one inning that you put it together and you win a baseball game.”
With several key leaders in the lineup struggling to find their groove, O’Connor has not been hesitant to give younger, less experienced bats a shot — and in several cases, it has paid dividends. Freshman infielder Chone James is a perfect example. Pinch hitting for graduate catcher Jacob Ference to lead off the ninth inning, James poked a single through the infield. Eight batters later, it was James who stung a double into the right-center field gap to score the tying and go-ahead runs.
Sophomore outfielder Walker Buchanan and freshman infielder Aiden Harris also both pinch hit — Buchanan also singled and recorded a two-RBI double, and Harris walked and came around to score. In the cases of James, Buchanan and Harris Saturday night, O’Connor’s choice to trust the youth movement with the game on the line was an unqualified success.
But before the wild ending, the first eight innings did little to inspire confidence in a potential comeback. Besides a two-run home run off the bat of sophomore outfielder Henry Ford, the Virginia offense was completely nonexistent, recording just five hits through the first eight innings. Three errors by the Cavaliers allowed an extra unearned run to score and pushed freshman pitcher Tomas Valincius out of the game early, as he made it through just 3.2 innings of work and allowed eight hits.
Behind Valincius, O’Connor was forced to use five different Virginia pitchers. Junior pitcher Kevin Jaxel suffered the most, allowing three runs, two of them earned. No hurler pitched more than 1.2 innings, and all allowed at least one hit. It was far from smooth sailing, and nearly none of them had any amount of run support behind them.
That is, until the fateful ninth inning. Graduate pitcher Matt Lanzendorfer entered the bottom half with a three-run lead to work with. Although Lanzendorfer did allow a run and put himself in a precarious position, he ultimately secured the save and the victory for the Cavaliers. Sophomore pitcher Drew Koenen worked the last out of the seventh and all of the eighth inning and was the winning pitcher of record.
All told, it was a tale of two games — the Virginia team that has shown up so far this season and, hopefully, the Virginia team that was ranked No. 2 to start the season. Much remains to be fixed. Still, Saturday felt like the turning point that the Cavaliers have been searching for — a statement win, an electrifying comeback in the face of yet another disappointing loss. Virginia needed the win, and it found a way to get the job done.
“I don’t know that we have an identity yet in this young season, but we’re working on that,” O’Connor said. “I’ve got a lot of faith and belief in these guys.”
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