Cavaliers Rally to Beat Liberty on Wednesday

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In the final contest of a four-game homestand, the No. 10 Virginia baseball team (29-13) finished off the season sweep of the Liberty Flames (29-11) with a 5-4 victory on Wednesday night (April 22) at Disharoon Park.

 

Liberty jumped out to a 3-0 lead after four and a half innings played before Virginia plated the final four runs of the contest, including a two-out two-run single off the bat of Noah Murray in the sixth that proved to be the game-winner.   

 

In his first midweek start of the season, Max Stammel tossed 3.2 innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts. Freshman Thomas Stewart picked up his first collegiate win by throwing a scoreless sixth inning in relief.

 

On an evening where offense was hard to come by, the Virginia duo of Murray and Jake Weatherspoon combined to drive in three of the five Cavalier runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• In what was a pitcher’s duel in the early going, Stammel retired nine of the first 10 Flames that he faced on Wednesday, including seven in a row after allowing a two-out single in the first.
•  Liberty struck first in the top of the fourth when the Flames scored the first run of the contest on an RBI single to right before plating a pair of runs on a Virginia error later in the inning to take a 3-0 lead
• Weatherspoon got UVA on the board in the home half of the fourth with a solo home run to the bleachers beyond left field. The long ball was Weatherspoon’s third of the year.
• The Flames extended their advantage back out to three runs with an RBI base knock back up the middle in the top of the fifth.
• RJ Holmes jump-started the Virginia offense in the home half of the fifth with a single before coming around to score thanks to a Liberty fielding error. A few batters later, Antoino Perrotta drove in a run with an RBI groundout that made it 4-3.
• Zach Jackson worked a two-out walk in the sixth to extend the frame and bring Holmes to the plate. Holmes promptly reached on a Liberty fielding error before Murray poked a 1-1 pitch to right center to score both and put Virginia out front for good at 5-4.
• With the lead, Lucas Hartman tossed two innings of shutout ball in relief.
• To pick up his ACC-leading 10th save of the season, Tyler Kapa struck out all three Liberty batters he faced in the ninth inning.  

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• With the season series sweep, Virginia improves to 46-24-1 all-time against Liberty and 30-10-1 at home against the Flames.
•  UVA moves to 27-0 on the year when leading after eight innings.
• Wednesday’s contest was the 14th comeback victory of the season for the Cavaliers.
• Lucas Hartman has allowed a run or fewer in 18 of his 24 outings this season.
• Joe Tiroly extended his team-best reach base streak to 14 games with a single in the first inning.
• Eric Becker and AJ Gracia did not play for the second straight game. The duo is listed day-to-day with upper-body injuries.

FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD:

“It started with Max Stammel. That is a guy who has been grinding and had a couple of tough outings and had to move to the midweek. No complaint, no pout. He just continued to work at his craft and I thought that maybe that is as good as Max Stammel has looked all year. The difference maker was his ability to land the slider and get something going the opposite way. I thought we pitched great tonight. We had one play to get off the field in what could have been a one-run situation. Two walks and 10 strikeouts against a really good offense. That felt like two teams going toe-to-toe that are playing really well.” 

UP NEXT

Following the successful midweek, No. 10 Virginia will hit the road for a weekend series at Pittsburgh. The weekend opener between the Cavaliers and Panthers is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch on Friday (April 24) and will be carried on ACCNX.