CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Behind the heroics of Henry Zatkowski and Zach Jackson, the Virginia baseball team (36-20) topped the Duke Blue Devils (26-31) 6-4 in the second round of the ACC Baseball Championship on Wednesday (May 20) at Truist Park.
Zatkowski picked up his eighth win of the year with six innings of two-run ball and four strikeouts. Jackson threw out a Blue Devil runner at home plate in the top of the fourth before tallying a two-run triple in the sixth to extend the UVA lead.
To aid Jackson offensively, Jake Weatherspoon and AJ Gracia each produced multi-hit games, while Harrison Didawick and Sam Harris each drove in a run.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Duke’s RJ Hamilton poked a one-out double to left field and later came around to score for the first run of the game in the opening frame.
- In the bottom of the first, Eric Becker was hit by a pitch and then came home on a two-out RBI Sam Harris single to tie the game.
- After the opening runs in the first frame, Zatkowski retired five of the next six batters that he faced.
- Hamilton opened the fourth with a double and scored to put the Blue Devils up 2-1 on a Matthew Strand RBI triple. Virginia limited the damage in the inning when Zatkowski got a flyout to right field and Jackson threw out Strand at home for the final out.
- The Virginia offense came alive in the sixth inning, starting with a Gracia leadoff double. UVA took the lead for good on back-to-back doubles from Didawick and Weatherspoon before Jackson cleared the bases with a two-run triple that made it a 5-2 contest.
- After Tyler Kapa struck out the side in the top of the eighth, Weatherspoon added some much-needed insurance with a solo home run in the home half of the frame. The long ball was Weatherspoon’s fifth of the season and pushed the UVA advantage to 6-2.
- Duke made things interesting in the ninth with a two-run home run before Lucas Hartman slammed the door shut for his first save of the season and a 6-4 Virginia victory.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- Virginia moves to 111-73-1 all-time against Duke and 3-7 in the ACC tournament.
- UVA improves to 62-82 in ACC Tournament games all-time and 4-4 in ACC Tournaments held in the city of Charlotte.
- Chris Pollard becomes the first Cavalier head coach to win in his ACC Tournament debut since Jim West in 1973.
- The Cavaliers are now 31-3 on the year when leading after six innings and 26-3 when scoring six or more runs.
- Wednesday was UVA’s 19th comeback win of the year.
- Harrison Didawick and Zach Jackson each extended their reached base safety streak to 10 games.
FROM COACH CHRIS POLLARD:
"I thought our team overcame some mistakes today. We didn’t play a perfect or clean game by any stretch, but we were tough enough to stay in the fight, and we were able to scratch across some runs there in the sixth and then Spoon had a big swing. That was the difference.”
UP NEXT
With the win, Virginia advances to the ACC Baseball Championship Quarterfinals and a showdown with top-seeded Georgia Tech. Freshman John Paone (1-4) will take the ball against the Yellow Jackets’ Tate McKee (8-1). First pitch between UVA and GT is scheduled for 11 a.m. with broadcast on ACC Network and WINA (98.9 FM/1070 AM).