Cavaliers Wrangle Rams To Open Final Homestand

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Powered by a six-run fourth inning, the Virginia baseball team (25-16) downed VCU (14-30) by a score of 9-8 on Tuesday night (April 29) at Disharoon Park.

After falling behind 2-1 through an inning and a half of play, Virginia scored the next seven runs, including the six-run fourth that was capped off by a Henry Ford three-run blast.  

Ford led all Cavalier hitters on Tuesday with a 3-for-4 outing with three RBIs and a run scored. Joining Ford, the Virginia duo of Aidan Teel and James Nunnallee each had two hits with runs driven in.

HOW IT HAPPENED  

• For the third straight game, Eric Becker jump-started the Cavalier offense with a home run in the first inning. Becker’s eighth of the season put Virginia up 1-0 after the opening frame.
• VCU took its lone lead of the night by plating two runs in the top of the second on a sacrifice fly and an RBI single.
• In the home half of the second, Nunnallee worked a one-out walk and later came home to score on an Teel double to right field to tie the game at 2-2.

• In relief, Kevin Jaxel tossed three scoreless innings of two-hit ball to pick up his third win of the season.

• The Cavalier offense exploded for six runs in the fourth, highlighted by a Nunnallee RBI double down the line in left and a three-run home run off the bat of Ford that made it an 8-2 contest. Ford’s home run was his seventh of the season.
• VCU made it an 8-5 ballgame in the top of the seventh with a three-run home run off the bat of Casey Kleinman.
• Virginia tacked on an insurance run following the seventh inning stretch when Nunnallee knocked a 3-0 pitch through the right side for an RBI single that plated Henry Godbout.

• In the eighth, the Rams cut the Cavalier advantage to 9-7 with a two-run single down the right-field line.
• VCU added another run in the top of the ninth and had the tying run on third base before Matt Lanzendorfer sealed the 9-8 Virginia victory with his fourth strikeout of the night.  

 ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia improves to 15-5 when Aidan Teel bats leadoff.  
• Eric Becker’s solo home run in the first extended his team lead in RBIs to 41.
• With his first-inning homer, Becker joins Henry Godbout as the only two Cavaliers to hit a home run in three straight games this season.
• Henry Ford collected his team-high 21st multi-hit game of the season.
• The fourth inning was the 16th time this season that Virginia has scored five or more runs in a frame.
• Propelled by the six-run fourth, Tuesday’s victory was the 15th come-from-behind victory of the season.
• UVA moves to 51-25 in the all-time series against VCU with the Cavaliers winning the six meetings dating back to 2022.

 UP NEXT

Virginia will continue the homestand on Wednesday as the Cavaliers welcome Navy to Disharoon Park. First pitch between the Cavaliers and the Midshipmen is slated for 3 p.m. and will be carried on ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).