HOW IT HAPPENED
- Louisville’s Zion Rose doubled down the line in right to open the bottom of the first and later became the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly.
- The Cardinals extend their lead to 3-0 an inning later with an RBI base knock and groundout that brought in a run that was assisted by a UVA error.
- In the fifth, Louisville tacked on another with a solo home run from Bayrum Hot.
- An inning later, the Cardinals made it a 7-0 contest with a three-run home run off the bat of Rose.
- Down to their final six outs, the Virginia offense exploded for five runs in the eighth. The rally started with a Gracia bunt single to the left side of the infield and was highlighted by a Didawick bases-clearing triple that got behind Louisville's diving centerfielder.
- Louisville regained control of the contest in the home half of the frame by scoring a trio of runs to extend its lead to 10-5.
- To close out the game for the Cardinals, Aaron England retired all three Cavalier batters that he faced in the ninth inning.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- With the series defeat, Virginia is now 15-16 all-time against Louisville.
- Didawick’s three-run triple in the eighth was the 12th triple of his storied UVA career, which is tied for third most by a Cavalier all-time.
- The three-run triple also gives Didawick 181 RBIs in his career to rank third all-time in program history.
- In relief, Thomas Stewart threw 1.2 innings of one-run ball on Saturday. The freshman has now allowed one or fewer runs in seven of his eight appearances this season.
- Sam Harris had his 20-game reach base streak snapped on Saturday by going 0-for-3 with a strikeout.
FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD:
"I have full confidence in this club’s ability to win an ACC tournament. We’ve done it before and this team is more talented than some teams that I have done it with. I have full confidence in this team’s ability to win a regional and continue to advance, but we have to play better. We have to get better in all three phases than we were the last two days. That starts with our coaching staff and me; we’re committed to these guys. We’ll get back to practice on Monday and get ready for a big week in Charlotte. We have a lot of baseball still left ahead of us.”
UP NEXT
Seeding for the 2026 ACC Baseball Championship will be announced by the league office on Saturday night (May 17), with the single-elimination tournament slated to begin play on Tuesday (May 19) at Truist Park in Charlotte, North Carolina.
