No. 14 Virginia Completes Road Sweep of Pitt

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – No. 14 Virginia (20-4, 6-3 ACC) completed the three-game series sweep of Pitt (11-10, 1-8 ACC) with an 8-2 victory on Sunday (March 24) at Charles L. Cost Field. Head coach Brian O’Connor recorded his 350th ACC victory, the eighth coach in league history to reach the 350-win plateau.

The Cavaliers are winners of five-straight games and have swept three of its last five ACC opponents dating back to last season.

Sophomore Kevin Jaxel made his first career start on the mound and picked up his fourth win of the season after tossing five innings of one-run baseball. Jaxel improved to 4-0 and hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 6.1 innings pitched. A total of four Virginia pitchers limited the Pitt offense to just four hits.

All nine Cavaliers in the starting lineup collected a hit in the contest, highlighted by Harrison Didawick’s 11th home run, a two-run shot in the seventh inning to give UVA a two-run cushion.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Pitt had its only lead of the series after Jayden Melendez hit a solo homer with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. It turned out to be one of two hits that Jaxel surrendered on the day.
• Virginia erased the short-lived Pitt advantage in its next at bat, plating a pair of unearned runs to take a 2-1 lead, one that it would not surrender for the remainder of the afternoon. The game was leveled at one on an RBI ground out by Anthony Stephan that scored Luke Hanson and a two-out RBI double to left by Henry Ford.

• The Cavaliers tacked on two more runs in the fourth, one on an RBI double from Hanson and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Griff O’Ferrall to put UVA in front, 2-1.
• Didawick went the opposite way for his 11th big fly of the season and put UVA up 6-1 in the top of the 7th.

• The story of the game for Virginia was its ability to turn the double play. The Cavalier infield turned four double plays, the most in a game since spinning four against ODU on April 3, 2018. A 6-4-3 double play ended the game, getting UVA out of a bases loaded jam.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• O’Ferrall stole his seventh base of the season and 40th of his career. He’s the first Cavalier with 40 career stolen bases since 2010 – Phil Gosselin (48), Tyler Cannon (49), Jarrett Parker (46).
• Didawick extended his team-best hitting streak to 14 games. O’Ferrall and Ethan Anderson have hit safely in 13-straight games.
• Virginia improved to 24-9 all-time against Pittsburgh and swept the Panthers for the fourth time in 10 all-time ACC series. O’Connor is 19-8 all-time against Pitt in his 21 seasons.
• Virginia recorded its 13th come-from-behind victory of the season and are 11-2 this season when opponents score first.

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers return home on Tuesday (March 26) for a non-conference battle against Richmond before a three-game ACC road series at Duke that begins Thursday (March 28) in Durham. First pitch on Tuesday against the Spiders at Disharoon Park is slated for 4 p.m.