Hoos' Offense Returns to Form Ahead of Marquee Series

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Leadoff batter Eric Becker is hitting .345 with five home runs. Next up for the University of Virginia baseball team is AJ Gracia, followed by Sam Harris.

Gracia is hitting .352 with nine home runs for the 10^th-ranked Cavaliers; Harris, .370 with 10 home runs.

“When they get going, that’s a hard 1-2-3 to go through [for opposing teams],” UVA head coach Chris Pollard said. “Maybe as good as any in the country.”

In UVA’s first game since a challenging trip to chilly New England, the juniors flexed their muscles Tuesday night in a run-rule win over Old Dominion. Becker, Gracia and Harris combined to go 10-for-14 with 10 RBI and three home runs before a season-high crowd of 3,707 at Disharoon Park.

Harris homered twice, and Gracia hit a mammoth grand slam in the sixth inning.

In all, the Wahoos (23-7) pounded out 14 hits in a 16-2 victory over the Monarchs (13-15).

“The lineup as a whole has honestly been really good the whole year,” Gracia said, “and I think the top of the lineup, especially to start a game, sets the tone. And when we're playing our best baseball, I feel like that's kind of what we do well.”

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— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) April 1, 2026

Virginia was coming off a three-game series with ACC rival Boston College in Brighton, Mass. The Cavaliers headed north averaging 10.3 runs and 10.2 hits per game, but nobody who saw the games at BC’s Eddie Pellagrini Diamond would have guessed their offense was that potent.

The Eagles edged the Cavaliers 5-3 on Friday and then clinched the series win with a 17-0 run-rule rout on Saturday. UVA grinded out a 3-1 win Sunday, but Becker, Gracia and Harris headed home having gone a combined 4-for-28 against BC. As a team, Virginia totaled 13 hits in the series.

“We know how good we are as an offense,” Gracia said Tuesday night. “Three tough games up in Boston weren’t going to change the way that we thought about ourselves and the team as a whole. But it definitely feels good, after three tough ones, it feels nice to bounce back.”

Against ODU, Becker led off the bottom of the first with a single and then stole second. Harris drove Becker in with a single, and the Hoos’ offense rarely cooled off. Kyle Johnson hit a three-run homer later in the first to make it 4-0, and Virginia went on to score in every inning.  

Becker finished 3-for-4 and scored three runs. Gracia was 2-for-5, with four RBI, and Harris went 5-for-5 and drove in six runs. Harris scored five runs to tie the program’s single-game record. Johnson went 2-for-3 with four RBI.

“I think our approach was really good,” Pollard said of his team’s offense. “We felt like were selling out the contact a little bit [against BC], and what I mean by that is we were slowing the barrel down to get the contact at times over the weekend. Today, we just got our best swing off time after time after time, and we got back to what we do.

“We talked Sunday about our identity, who we are. We hit doubles. We hit balls out of the ballpark. And you’ve got to get your best swing off to do that. And today I really felt like we got our best swing off time after time after time.”

It was 35 degrees at first pitch Saturday in Brighton. Temperatures were in the 80s in Charlottesville for much of Tuesday, and the contrast wasn’t lost on the Cavaliers.

“It’s definitely a little nicer here, for sure,” Gracia said, smiling.

Similar weather is predicted for Virginia’s marquee series with No. 7 Florida State. The Cavaliers, who are 7-5 in ACC play, will host the Seminoles (22-6 overall, 7-2 conference) at 5 p.m. Thursday, 2 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday at the Dish.

“We’re not really changing anything,” Gracia said. “We’re just going to compete against ourselves. Obviously, Florida State's a good team and got really good arms, really good bats. But again, whatever they do over there, that doesn't have any effect on us.”

UVA used five pitchers against ODU. Starter Jayden Stroman, a freshman, wasn’t at his best and gave way to classmate Noah Yoder in the second. Yoder walked three in his two innings of relief, after which seniors Kevin Jaxel and Joe Colucci and freshman Chris Lucarelli walked none and limited the Monarchs to a single hit.

“We didn't want to extend anybody past 40 pitches with the short week and the weekend getting here more quickly than usual,” Pollard said. “And then I just thought it was a great job by some guys of taking advantage of opportunities ... I thought some guys stepped in when they got their moment and made the most of it.”

UVA pitchers struggled in the first two games against Boston College, but Pollard likes what he’s seen from his staff since then.

“I feel better after tonight,” he said, “because I feel like we re-established some depth. If Christian Luccarelli is going to throw like that, he's going to pitch high-leverage innings for us. If Joey Colucci can do that for us two times a week, man, that really extends the length of our staff. And I thought Kevin Jackson was the best he's been all year. I thought not only was his stuff really good, but the execution was. And so hopefully that re-established some depth in our bullpen.”

SAM HARRIS GOES BACK TO BACK 🚀

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— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) April 1, 2026

After winning its first three ACC series, UVA took a step back against BC. That hasn’t shaken the Cavaliers’ belief in themselves.

“At the end of the day, we just got beat, and it's going to happen,” Gracia said. “It's baseball. We still feel like we're in a good spot, both offensively and pitching-wise.”

Harris agreed. “Losing isn't going to stop us from playing how we play. It happens in baseball ... We’ve been playing great all season, so it’s not like we’re in any sort of slump just from losing two games at Boston College. They’re a good team, too, so credit to them. But it's definitely good having this win today, kind of keeping the momentum going into this weekend.”

Gracia and Harris are among the players who followed Pollard from Duke to UVA after the 2025 season. The transition to a new program and a new school, Harris said, has “been really easy. Sticking with the same coaching staff, and a bunch of my friends are here, too, just transferring from Duke with me. And I love it here. The school is great. All the players on the team coming in, they opened up to us really quickly, so I've had so much fun here.”

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