Having split the two previous games in their series, No. 23 Virginia baseball came into the series finale looking to clinch the set against California. The Cavaliers (12-6, 3-3 ACC) did just that with an offensive onslaught in the second inning that led to an 11-5 victory over the Golden Bears (9-10, 2-4 ACC).
Virginia put the pressure on early — with an absolute avalanche of runs. The second inning was where Virginia showed California why it started the season as the second ranked team in the nation. Sophomore outfielder Henry Ford started the inning with a solo home run to right field, and the rest was history.
By the time the inning ended, the Cavaliers had amassed nine runs off of seven hits and sophomore Ethan Foley, the starting pitcher for the Golden Bears, was knocked out of the game. The inning was capped off by a grand slam from junior infielder Henry Godbout, his first of the season.
After the electric second inning, Virginia’s offense tapered off a bit, only scoring two runs for the rest of the game. Sophomore outfielder Walker Buchanan blasted a solo home run to open the third inning, and the Cavaliers manufactured a run in the seventh. Other than that, the offense was rather mild. However, they never needed to do much after the second inning.
“Our offensive approach throughout the entire lineup was outstanding,” Coach Brian O’Connor said. “To have a game where nobody strikes out, everybody in the lineup has a hit, and then we had some big home runs by Godbout and Ford.”
One possible cause of the offensive outburst could be the slew of lineup changes made by O’Connor. Godbout made his first career start at third base because freshman infielder Chone James got the start at second base. Buchanan also earned the start in right field. Neither are staples of the batting order, but have performed well as of late. It seems as if O’Connor is looking to ride the hot hand when it comes to addressing his depth problem at the plate, and it worked against California.
Another major story of the game was junior pitcher Evan Blanco making his return to the weekend rotation. After facing some setbacks in his preseason preparation, Blanco was limited to midweek game work. However, he returned to the weekend set today and was respectable. Blanco threw five innings, allowing just two earned runs and striking out four batters. His performance allowed Virginia to keep their wide lead against the Golden Bears, and, if continued, would be a boost to a rotation that was 35th nationally in earned run average entering the series.
“It was great to see [Blanco] go out there and go five innings,” O’Connor said. “I thought he had a high-quality start.”
California tried to battle back, but to no avail. The Golden Bears scored two runs in both the fourth and seventh innings, but they failed to break through and make a real run at the Cavaliers. The Virginia bullpen was a large reason for this, as it played with the ‘bend but do not break’ mentality. California was able to get a base runner in almost every inning, but the Cavalier arms were able to quell their bats before many Golden Bears could cross the plate.
Junior Jack O’Connor was the most notable arm out of the bullpen for Virginia. O’Connor threw 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit in that span and closing out the game for the Cavaliers. O’Connor appears to be fully healthy from his injury last season and could be a great piece moving forward.
With a series win under their belts, it appears as if Virginia is in much better shape than they were just a week ago. The bats have finally woken up and the Cavaliers proved they can go on the road and remain composed. With a lengthy homestand coming up, they will have a prime opportunity to continue stacking wins.
“It was a huge win for this team,” O’Connor said. “To win an ACC series on the road is a challenging thing to do no matter where it is.”
Eight of Virginia’s next nine games will be played in Charlottesville — punctuated with a highly-anticipated series against Duke coming up next weekend.
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