No. 2 Virginia Falls In Season Opener To Michigan

PONCE, P.R. – On the opening day of the 2025 season, the No. 2 Virginia baseball team (0-1) dropped a 5-4 contest to the Michigan (0-1) in 11 innings at Estadio Francisco Montaner on Friday afternoon (Feb. 14).

The loss is the first for the Cavaliers in the month of February since Feb. 27, 2021, snapping a streak of 24-straight February wins.

UVA reliever Ryan Osinski was dealt the loss despite not allowing an earned run in 3.1 innings of work. Cavalier starting pitcher Jay Woolfolk struck out five over 4.2 innings of two-run ball and did not factor in the decision.

In his Cavalier debut, Chris Arroyo drove in three runs and had a pair of hits, including a game-tying, two-run homer in the seventh. Sophomore Eric Becker went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Michigan tallied two hits and a walk in the bottom of the first inning to take an initial 2-0 lead. The runs were scored via an RBI double to right off the bat of Mitch Voit and a Wolverine RBI groundout from Colby Turner.
• After allowing the two runs in the first inning, Woolfolk settled in, holding the Wolverines scoreless over the next three and two thirds.
• The Cavaliers got on the board in the fourth inning when Aidan Teel and Luke Hanson teamed up on a double steal that confused the Michigan defense, resulting in Hanson swiping home.
• One inning later, Becker collected his second double of the day and later came around to score on an Arroyo single through the box to even the game at 2-2.
• Michigan’s Matt Spear made it a 4-2 contest when he hit a high fly ball that carried just over the wall in left-center for a two-run homer.
• The seventh inning started with a leadoff single from Becker before Arroyo brought him in with a two-out, two-run home run to tie the game at four.
• Following the Arroyo home run, the Cavalier pitching duo of Blake Barker and Ryan Osinski retired the next nine batters until a leadoff walk in the 11th.
• In the 11th, Michigan’s Mitch Voit worked a walk to start the frame and proved to be the winning run on a three-base Virginia error that ended the game.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Jacob Ference tied the school record for hit by pitches in a single game with three. Ference becomes the sixth Cavalier and first since Caleb Knight in 2018 to be plunked three times.
• Becker matched his career-high with a pair of doubles on Friday. He also had a two-double performance in game two of the 2024 NCAA Super Regional against Kansas State.
• The Virginia duo of James Nunnallee and Jackson Sirois each made their collegiate debut on Friday while Arroyo and Matt Lanzendorfer made their Cavalier debuts.
• Friday’s contest marked the first time in program history that Virginia played a game in Puerto Rico.
• The loss snaps UVA’s five-game win streak on opening day. Virginia is now 16-6 under Brian O’Connor in season openers.
• The last extra-inning game on opening day was in 1962 when Virginia fell 9-7 to Yale at home in 11 innings.
• Michigan now leads the all-time series 12-9-1 and extends its win streak to three games.

UP NEXT

The second game of the three-game Puerto Rico Challenge will take place against Villanova at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Cavaliers are slated to throw righthander Bryson Moore against the Wildcats’ righty Luke McCullough.