Virginia Baseball | Notre Dame wins both games of Sunday’s doubleheader

NOTRE DAME, Indiana – Notre Dame (23-15, 11-10 ACC) wrapped up the weekend streak with a pair of wins over No. 8 Virginia (32-9, 12-9 ACC) in Sunday’s doubleheader at Frank Eck Stadium. The Fighting Irish took game one, 10-2, and held on for a 5-4 victory in the nightcap.

Sophomore Casey Socke turned in a multi-hit effort in both contests, going 4-for-7 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBI.

GAME 1: Notre Dame 10, Virginia 2

Solo home runs by Carter Putz in the first inning and Jack Penny in the fourth helped Notre Dame take a 4-0 advantage after the first four innings.

Virginia cut the Fighting Irish’s lead in half in the top of the sixth inning thanks to Anthony Stephan’s two-run homer, his second of the season.

Notre Dame scored six unanswered runs over the next three innings to help clinch the series win. The game was broken by a three-run home run by Vinny Martinez in the bottom half of the sixth, one of four Fighting Irish home runs in the contest.

Notre Dame starting pitcher Blake Healy threw a season-high 7.1 innings, scattering six UVA hits and allowing just the two runs on Stephan’s long ball. Healey fanned eight batters and was credited with her second win of the season.

GAME 2: Notre Dame 5, Virginia 4

The Fighting Irish overcame a pair of shutouts in game two and blocked the tying run in scoring position in the ninth inning.

The Cavaliers opened the scoring in the first inning with a hit by Harrison Didawick that allowed Ethan Anderson to score from third base. It was Didawick’s team-best sixth sacrifice bunt of the season.

The Fighting Irish tied the game in the bottom half of the second when Martinez scored on DM Jefferson’s sacrifice bunt. An inning later, Notre Dame took its first lead of the day with a Carter Putz single to left center that scored Zach Preisner.

Socke put Virginia back ahead with one swing of the bat in the fourth. The sophomore cleared the right-field wall for an opposite-field, two-run homer, his fourth home run of the season. Kyle Teel doubled home Griff O’Ferrall in the fifth inning to give Virginia a 5-3 lead.

Notre Dame erased its latest deficit by scoring three unearned runs in the bottom half of the fifth. The Green Light hit a two-out double by Martinez.

Sauke had his second two-hit effort of the day with a two-run double in the top of the ninth to bring the run-tying run to the plate. The next batter, pinch hitter Colin Tuft was hit by a pitch, giving the go-ahead run to first. Notre Dame reliever Caden Spivey induced a game-ending strikeout to seal the victory. Spivey limited the Cavaliers to two hits over the final 4.1 innings to earn the win.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• In game two, Jake Berry hit a season-high seven strikeouts in a season-high 3.1 innings. He has now struck out seven batters in back-to-back relief appearances.
• Virginia falls to 8-7 in road games this year and has lost three straight games for the first time since the 2022 season.
• UVA committed a season-high four errors in the second game, the most in a game since May 15, 2022 against Clemson.
• Virginia was swept in a doubleheader for the first time since 2019, losing both games of a doubleheader at home against Miami.

NEXT

The Cavaliers return home on Tuesday (April 25) and begin an 11-game homestand. Virginia will host Liberty and Towson (April 26) midweek before resuming ACC play against Duke on the weekend (April 28-30). The first leg of both midweek competitions is scheduled for 6pm