With a gruesome series loss against conference foe Duke and a humiliating midweek loss to Liberty in Lynchburg Tuesday, the potential for season-ending catastrophe loomed large.
And amidst all of the chaos, the Cavaliers then had to look to Thursday night, as they took on No. 20 Stanford, who made the cross-country trek to Charlottesville for the very first time as ACC competitors. In the opening contest, Virginia took the win in convincing fashion, defeating the Cardinal 11-8.
Recent struggles have done little to dissuade Coach O’Connor from altering his starting rotation, as senior Jay Woolfolk received yet another series-opening start. With the ball in hand, it took little time for him to show why he’s still first in line for the rotation. The top half of the first yielded the tone-setting moment of the game, a swinging strikeout of the Cardinal’s star freshman Rintaro Sasaki on an elevated fastball at near-eye level. It spoke volumes about the attacking approach that the Cavaliers would undertake for the next three hours.
Perhaps the one redeeming conclusion that one could draw from Virginia’s last few games was that, if the Cavalier bats showed up at all, they would do so early in the contest. Thursday was no different, with hits coming early and often. A leadoff single from junior outfielder Aidan Teel was churned into the game’s opening score, as a knock to left center off the bat of junior infielder Henry Godbout scored two to give Virginia the early advantage.
Now, it would have been a folly to expect Stanford’s offense to be destitute, as they had already scored a whopping 160 runs for the season entering the contest. They left more than a blemish on Woolfolk in the second, with a tumultuous three-hit inning ceding the lead to the Cardinal by a margin of one.
Luckily for the Cavaliers, however, that would be the last time a player donning black strode across the plate until the seventh frame. Woolfolk put on a clinic, showcasing the startling repertoire that he is capable of at his best. He did so in tandem with efficiency that pushed him over an inning past his average appearance length for the season.
When he left the game in the seventh after giving up a double down the right field line, the Cavaliers had supplied him with a hefty seven-run lead.
Those insurance runs came courtesy of a single from junior outfielder Harrison Didawick in the fourth, and an extra-base hit barrage from freshman outfielder James Nunnallee, Teel and sophomore infielder Eric Becker in the fifth and sixth. Suddenly, the Cavaliers tacked on another five tallies.
The coup de grace came in the form of the ninth home run of the season for junior infielder Chris Arroyo. It was a drive that almost seemed to float its way to the Cavalier bullpen, where a group of relievers awaited, hand on fence, scaling the fence as if to shout from the top of Disharoon Park that the Cavalier faithful could once again sleep soundly knowing a Virginia win was imminent.
However, in typical 2025 Cavalier fashion, the game was not settled yet. It took the quelling of a five-run charge from Stanford across the seventh and eighth innings to well and truly wrap this one up.
The box score was not all too kind to graduate pitcher Matt Lanzendorfer, who, despite giving up three of those runs, looked rather proficient in relief. A ball deep into right field was overrun by Nunnallee, costing a run and casting a small shadow on what was otherwise quite the exemplary defensive showcase for Virginia.
A quick top of the ninth inning secured the victory for the Cavaliers — an absolute must-have game if there ever was one. This squad now finds itself one game up on a ranked opponent, the first time they can claim that this season.
“It’s a big win for us here to start the series. We know it’s been a tough last week for us here at home and then at Liberty on Tuesday,” O’Connor said following the game. “Jay Woolfolk, I thought, was outstanding tonight. You know, they did a nice job against him in the second inning and for him to bounce back and throw four shutout innings was really big for us”
The Cavaliers will look to keep the positive momentum going as they head into the weekend against a Stanford team that poses an opportunity, one of a herculean comeback for a Virginia team that seemed downright despondent less than one week ago.
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