Cavaliers Fall in Game Two; Sets Up Sunday Rubber Match at Notre DameCavaliers Fall in Game Two; Sets Up Sunday Rubber Match at Notre Dame
Olivia McLucas/Virginia Sports

Cavaliers Fall in Game Two; Sets Up Sunday Rubber Match at Notre Dame

Rubber match set for Sunday in South Bend

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 13 Virginia baseball team (25-11, 9-8 ACC) dropped a Saturday contest (April 11) to Notre Dame (16-13, 7-10 ACC) by a score of 5-3 at Frank Eck Stadium.

 

The Irish scored the first five runs of the game off UVA’s Max Stammel before fending off a late Cavalier rally to even the weekend ACC series.

 

Sam Harris led the Virginia attack on Saturday by driving in all three UVA runs on a game-high three hits. Harris was aided by Eric Becker, who went 2-for-4 and scored once in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • After a scoreless two opening frames, Notre Dame got on the board in the bottom of the third with an RBI single and a two-out two-run base knock to left field.
  • An inning later, the Irish extended their lead to 5-0 with a two-run single off the bat of Mark Quatrani.
  • Following the two-run base hit, the Virginia bullpen trio of Matt Augustin, Noah Yoder and Henry Zatkowski limited the Irish to just a pair of hits over the final 4.2 innings on Saturday.
  • To open the top of the seventh, Harrison Didawick reached on a leadoff single before Harris jumped on the first pitch he saw for a two-run home run to dead center. The blast was Harris’ team-leading 11th home run of the season and cut the Notre Dame advantage to 5-2.
  • Becker opened the top of the eighth by beating the shift with a base hit through the left side before coming around to score on a Harris double off the wall in left center to make it a two-run contest at 5-3.
  • After the Harris double, Virginia failed to prolong the rally as Notre Dame’s William Jaisle stranded a trio of Cavaliers on base with a fly out and a strikeout to end the inning.
  • To even the weekend series, Jaisle sat down all three Virginia batters he faced in the ninth.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

  • UVA falls to 6-9 on the year when scoring five or fewer runs.
  • With his pair of extra-base hits on Saturday, Sam Harris now leads all Cavaliers with 20.
  • Freshman reliever Noah Yoder has held opponents scoreless in 12 of his 14 appearances this season.

FROM HEAD COACH CHRIS POLLARD

“Jack Radel is one of the best arms in our league; he’s one of the best arms in the country. He’ll be a first or second round pick and when you spot him a five-run lead, that’s an uphill battle. I thought it was a great job by Noah Yoder and Henry Zatkowski to keep the ballgame right where it was and gave our offense a chance to chip back into it. We had the tying and go-ahead runs on there in the eighth and we just couldn’t come up with a big hit.

UP NEXT

No. 13 Virginia and Notre Dame will close out the three-game weekend series on Sunday. Virginia will throw freshman John Paone (1-2) against Notre Dame’s Dylan Singleton (0-1). First pitch for the finale is slated for 1 p.m. on ACCNX and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).