After slugging their way to victories Friday and Saturday, Virginia baseball entered Sunday’s game against No. 24 Georgia Tech hunting for a sweep. Despite slugging well and a good starting pitching performance, a comeback propelled the Yellow Jackets (30-14, 15-9 ACC) over the Cavaliers (24-16, 11-10 ACC).
Both teams started the game hot from the plate. After junior outfielder Aidan Teel led off the first by reaching via catcher’s interference, sophomore infielder Eric Becker made Georgia Tech pay with a two-run blast to deep center field. But the Yellow Jackets fought back in the bottom half of the first when freshman infielder Alex Hernandez smoked a double down the right field line to score junior infielder Kyle Lodise, narrowing the deficit to 2-1.
Over on the mound, freshman left-handed pitcher Tomas Valincius started the game for the Cavaliers. While his velocity and stuff was superb, Valincius struggled with command and walked three batters. He did a great job mitigating damage though, and in the end Valincius finished with four strikeouts and just five hits allowed across six innings pitched.
On the other side, graduate pitcher Jaylen Paden took the mound for Georgia Tech. After a rough opening inning, Paden settled down. That being said, he was still inefficient. The right-hander went on to throw five innings, getting four strikeouts and allowing three hits.
After stalling out for a while, the Virginia offense returned in the fifth inning. The bottom of the order got the run started, with both junior outfielder Harrison Didawick and freshman outfielder James Nunnallee hitting singles. Great baserunning and a wild pitch from Paden scored Didawick, while a sacrifice fly from Teel scored Nunnallee to make it 4-1 Cavaliers.
The Yellow Jackets fired back in the sixth inning, though. With Valincius’s pitch count rising, they got going with a single from freshman outfielder Caleb Daniel and a double from sophomore catcher Vahn Lackey. Daniel then scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore infielder Carson Kerce, and Lackey scored on a single up the middle from sophomore infielder Kent Schmidt to cut the Virginia lead down to just one run.
Junior reliever Caden Spivey had a rollercoaster outing for Georgia Tech. After allowing one hit and no runs in the sixth inning, Spivey followed it up in the seventh by walking junior infielder Luke Hanson, which made the proceeding home run by Teel hurt twice as much.
Georgia Tech Coach Danny Hall pulled Spivey from the game in the following inning after he allowed a leadoff walk.
For Virginia, graduate pitcher Alex Markus took the mound for the Cavaliers in the seventh. Markus immediately allowed a home run to freshman infielder Will Baker. Following that, Markus retired the next three batters to keep the score at 6-4 Virginia.
After graduate pitcher Mason Patel shut the Cavalier offense down for two innings, the score remained 6-4 into the bottom of the ninth when junior pitcher Evan Blanco took the mound for Virginia.
Blanco recorded an out quickly, but he then gave up a single to junior infielder Kyle Lodise. With the tying run at the plate, Blanco threw a low slider which was sent over the left field wall by sophomore outfielder Drew Burress, tying the game at six. Blanco’s skid continued by allowing a single to Hernandez. Fortunately, a strikeout coupled with a hitter’s interference on an attempted steal ended the comeback at 6-6, sending the game to extra innings.
Patel was lights out again in the 10th inning, so the Yellow Jackets had another shot to win the game in the bottom half of the frame. Blanco got an out early, and got the second out when Kerce got a hit to left field but was gunned trying to extend it into a double. However, the Cavaliers never got the third out. Schmidt launched an opposite-field blast to left field, walking off the game.
Even though this loss stings, the Cavaliers cannot be disappointed with a series victory on the road over a ranked opponent. This series has likely put Virginia on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble and given them some momentum to carry on throughout the end of the season. That being said, this is not the first time the Cavaliers have choked away a lead at the end of a game. If this trend continues, it means no lead is truly safe for this team and the offense will have to constantly produce to win games.
With the conclusion of this series, Virginia will come back home for a seven-game home stand to conclude the regular season. This home stand starts with three midweek games, with a second matchup against VCU Tuesday leading it off. First pitch is at 8 p.m., and the Cavaliers will be looking to build upon both this weekend’s momentum. Virginia defeated the Rams 13-0 in their first matchup of the season April 8.
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