No. 23 Virginia Tops George Mason on Tuesday Night

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – In the opening game of an eight-game homestand, the No. 23 Virginia baseball team (30-16) downed the George Mason Patriots (19-23) 5-1 on Tuesday night (April 28) at Disharoon Park.

 

The Cavaliers picked up their 15th comeback victory on Tuesday after allowing the opening run in the top of the third. UVA ended the midweek contest by plating the final five runs of the game.

 

UVA starter Max Stammel only allowed an unearned run in four innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts on Tuesday. Lucas Hartman picked up his team-leading ninth win of the season by throwing another scoreless relief outing.

 

To pace the Virginia offense on Tuesday, RJ Holmes and Joe Tiroly each tallied a pair of base knocks and drove in a run. The UVA trio of Jake Weatherspoon, Kyle Johnson and Sam Harris each recorded a double on the evening.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Stammel retired six of the first seven Patriots that he faced before George Mason’s Vincent Cowdrey reached on a Virginia fielding error to open the top of the third. Crowdrey became George Mason’s lone run of the evening when he scored on a sacrifice fly to right field two batters later.
• The George Mason lead only lasted a half inning as Tiroly crushed a two-out solo home run that landed beyond the bleachers in left field and tied the game at 1-1. The long way was the junior’s ninth of the campaign.
• Virginia took the lead for good an inning later when Zach Jackson scampered home from third on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Holmes.
• After gaining the upper hand, Tomas Stewart tossed a scoreless top of the fifth before back-to-back doubles from Sam Harris and Kyle Johnson extended the UVA advantage to 3-1.
• Jake Weatherspoon made it a 5-1 contest in the seventh with a two-out two-run double down the line in left.
• To close out the midweek victory, Hartman tossed a scoreless 2.1 innings before handing the ball over to Tyler Kapa with a pair of runners on base in the ninth. Kapa picked up a strikeout and forced a lineout to second to pick up his 11th save of the year.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• With the win, Virginia improves to 29-12 all-time against George Mason and has won the last eight meetings with the Patriots dating back to 2004.
• The midweek victory also gives UVA 30 wins on the season. The 2026 season marks the 18th time in the last 20 years that Virginia baseball has won 30 or more games.
• Since returning from injury on April 14, Thomas Stewart has tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball with eight strikeouts.
• Tuesday’s midweek contest against George Mason was the second time this season that the Virginia pitching staff did not issue a walk.
• Lucas Hartman has allowed a run or fewer in 19 of his 26 outings.
• Tyler Kapa has allowed a run or fewer in all 19 of his outings this season.
• Sam Harris extended his team-best reached safely streak to 12 games on Tuesday with his two-walk in the first inning.

FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD:

"I thought the job by our pitching staff to limit free offense was huge. That is a team that is really good at the bunt game and the straight steal game. Not to give them anything free to capitalize and turn into offense with no walks. That team doesn’t strike out much and we were able to keep them off the bases. The handful of times they had baserunners, I thought Coach Kirkpatrick did a great job managing the run game with picks and timing holds. I thought it was a really well-pitched game and a really well-called game by Brady Kirkpatrick. The big two-out RBI at-bat by Jake Weatherspoon, but for me, the player of the game was RJ Holmes. I am just really proud of the player that he is growing into and how he has taken advantage of this opportunity that he has gotten.” 

UP NEXT

No. 23 Virginia will return to action on Wednesday (April 29) at Disharoon Park as the Cavaliers are set to host the Norfolk State Spartans. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. while being carried on ACCNX and WINA (98.9/1070 AM).