HATTIESBURG, Miss. – The Virginia baseball team (37-23) suffered its second loss of the Hattiesburg Regional and was eliminated from the 2025 NCAA Tournament, falling to Jacksonville State (48-14) by a score of 7-6 on Sunday afternoon (May 31) at Pete Taylor Park.
Virginia spotted the Gamecocks seven runs, including a grand slam in the second inning, before attempting a feverish rally with a six-run eighth.
Joe Tiroly paced the Cavalier offense on Sunday with a 2-for-5 day while Jake Weatherspoon and Eric Becker each drove in multiple runs as part of the comeback attempt.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After a scoreless opening inning and a half, Jacksonville State loaded the bases with a one-out single sandwiched between a pair of walks to bring Sam Richardson to the plate. Down two strikes, Richardson deposited the next pitch he saw over the wall in right field to put the Gamecocks up 4-0.
- In relief, Thomas Stewart threw a season-best three shutout innings while scattering three hits during his outing.
- AJ Gracia and Tiroly opened the top of the sixth before the pair of Cavaliers were stranded.
- Christian Lucarelli worked around a pair of runners for a scoreless bottom of the sixth in relief of Stewart.
- Jacksonville State tacked on three more runs following the seventh-inning stretch, including a two-strike two-out two-run double that landed just beyond the diving reach of Zach Jackson in left field.
- The Virginia offense came alive in the top of the eighth by plating six runs in the frame. After loading the bases with no outs, Jake Weatherspoon tattooed a three-run double to center to get UVA on the board. Weatherspoon came home on an RJ Holmes sac fly to set the stage for a two-run double off the bat of Eric Becker that made it a one-run contest at 7-6.
- Lucas Hartman struck out two of the three Gamecocks he faced in the home eighth to keep the deficit to a run.
- Jacksonville State’s Josh Sibley retired all three batters that he faced to seal the Gamecock win.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
- Virginia’s season concludes with a record of 37-26 in the first year under Chris Pollard. The 37 wins are the second-most wins by a first-year UVA in program history and only trail Brian O’Connor’s 44 victories in 2004.
- Harrison Didawick finishes his Virginia career ranked in the top 10 all-time in games played (220/5th), at-bats (780/8th), runs scored (200/1st), triples (11/5th), home runs (42/2nd), runs batted in (182/2nd) and total bases (398/4th).