Virginia Baseball | No. 7 Virginia is on a 19-game home run

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 7 Virginia (26-4, 9-4 ACC) remained undefeated at Disharoon Park with a 14-2 victory over No. 20 Miami (20-10, 8-5 ACC) on Friday (April 7). The Cavaliers are 18-0 at home in 2023 and tied a program record with their 19th straight home win dating back to last season.

Virginia scored the game’s first 13 runs, including seven in its first three trips to the plate. The Cavaliers tied their season high with four home runs in the contest, including two off the sophomore’s at-bat Casey Socke.

UVA Starter Pitcher Brian Edgington turned in the longest outing by a UVA pitcher this year, throwing seven innings of one-run baseball. The right-hander had a season-high 10 strikeouts and scattered four hits to improve to 6-0 on the year. Edgington allowed two earned runs in his final 17 innings and lowered his season ERA to 1.59.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Jake Geloff hit his team-best 10th home run of the season and 35th of his career, moving him into second place on UVA’s all-time list. He is two short of the career program record of 37 held by EJ Anderson (1995-98).

HOW DID IT HAPPEN

• Sauke started his big night and Virginia scored in the second inning with a solo home run over the left field bleachers. The long ball traveled about 427 feet with an exit velocity of 106 mph.

• Later in the second with two outs, Griff O’Ferrall was called out on a ground ball up the middle that would have ended the inning had it not been for a replay initiated by a UVA duout. The call was canceled allowing Ethan O’Donnell to reach the plate with two runners on. O’Donnell laced a 3-2 fastball over the right field wall for a three-run homer to give UVA a 4-0 advantage.

• O’Ferrall was again in the midst of a two-out rally in the third when he hit a two-run single to left field. He finished with a team-high three hits on the night and already has seven base hits in two games this week.
• The Cavaliers blew the game open in the sixth with a six-run frame. After RBI hits by Geloff and Ethan AndersonSaucke put the exclamation mark of the day with a laser triple over the left field wall, putting UVA up 13-0.

• Chase Hungate and Yakov Khodorovich combined to throw the final two innings for UVA on the mound. Khodorovich worked around a hit and a walk in the ninth to close out the victory.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• UVA scored 15 of its last 18 runs with two outs, including 11 runs with two outs in Friday’s contest.
• The six-run, sixth inning marked the 13th time this season UVA has scored five or more runs in an inning.
• Kyle Thiel went 2-for-5 with a 2nd home run and has now reached base in all 30 games this season. O’Ferrall is 7-for-11 in two games this week and extended his hitting streak to 21 games.
• Seven Cavaliers made multiple shots Friday and eight of the nine players recorded a hit in the contest.
• O’Donnell’s home run in the second inning was his eighth of the season. Four of his eight home runs this season have come against ACC opponents.
• The only batter to reach base in Edgington’s first 4.2 innings was Dario Gomez, who singled down the third base line for Miami’s first hit. Two of the four hits Edgington gave up did not leave the infield.
• Virginia snapped a four-game losing streak against Miami and is looking for its first series win against the Hurricanes since 2017.
• Virginia has won all five ACC series openers this season.
• Saucke’s multi-homer effort was the first of his career and the first by a Cavalier since Jake Gelof against Coastal Carolina in the 2022 NCAA Greenville Regional.

NEXT

Virginia and Miami will continue the series on Saturday (April 8) with Game 1 at 3:00 PM at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers will have righty Nick Parker (3-0) on the mound and he will go up against righty Alejandro Rosario (2-3).