No. 5 Virginia stays hot in 9-5 Commonwealth Clash victory over Virginia Tech

By Raza Umerani

Staff Writer

March 31, 2023

BLACKSBURG - First pitch was pushed back by 30 minutes due to inclement weather. Even when the game began, rain was coming down on English Field in sheets. But that didn’t stop UVa from being on fire on Friday night. 

The No. 5 Cavaliers (24-2, 8-2 ACC) won their seventh straight game with a commanding 9-5 victory over Virginia Tech (15-10, 2-8). 

Virginia utilized the formula that has won them nearly all of their games in 2023: see the ball well, get on base, and let the pitching lock things down. That was apparent from the very start of the game. 

The Cavaliers offense put up three runs in each of the first two innings. Two RBI doubles – one from third baseman Jake Gelof and another from first baseman Ethan Anderson – and a sac fly from catcher Kyle Teel made it 3-0 in the top of the first. In the second inning, center fielder Ethan O’Donnell crushed a towering three-run home run to right field to make it 6-0 in the blink of an eye. 

Virginia’s lineup had the beat on Hokies starter Drue Hackenberg from the jump. They made contact on seemingly every pitch inside the zone and stayed very disciplined on his patented sliders. Through the first two innings, they had three walks and four hits. After an impressive 1-2-3 third inning, a flared double into center field by Jake Gelof in the fourth plated two more runs to end Hackenberg’s night.

With five innings left to play, Virginia Tech skipper John Szefc handed the ball to freshman right-hander Jacob Exum with one goal in mind: keep the bullpen arms healthy for the weekend. Exum achieved that and more, pitching the rest of the game in an efficient 73 pitches while allowing just two hits, issuing two walks and striking out eight Virginia batters. He gave up just one run on a flare to left that dropped between three defenders. Exum retired the last 10 batters he faced, and exited to the sounds of cheers from his dugout and the home crowd. 

“He was our best player today,” Szefc said after the game. “He was tremendous. It was as good as any outing we’ve had all year, actually. Our dugout energy was good. It was just a shame that it started out the way it did.” 

“Off-speed was on, which is always good,” Exum said about his performance. “Basically just going out there and getting ahead in the count. Just trying to do my job. … It’s good to keep the bullpen arms healthy so that they can go and we can win on Saturday and Sunday.”

All the while, Tech’s bats were struggling mightily, including a stretch of nine consecutive batters retired by UVa starter Brian Edgington. The right-hander was impeccable for six innings, only allowing seven Hokie batters to get on base while punching out eight. Edgington ended the night with no earned runs to his name, although the Hokies were able to get two runs on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. An error on Virginia’s right fielder Casey Saucke on a fly ball off the bat of designated hitter Brody Donay allowed a run to score, and a double by right fielder Carson Jones brought him home to make it a 9-2 game. 

The Hokies offense battled to the very end. In the bottom of the eighth, Donay blasted a three-run home run to deep left field off UVa reliever Chase Hungate that went nearly 400 feet to make it a 9-5 ballgame. Down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth, a walk and a single brought the tying run to the on-deck circle. But it was to no avail, as the Cavaliers’ closer Jay Woolfolk secured the victory. 

“Our guys hung in there and played all nine,” Szefc said about the Hokies’ fight. “We just started poorly.”

Jacob Exum, who was the true silver lining for the Hokies, summed it up best: “It feels good, but in the end we ended up losing. So we’ll just focus on the next two games.”

Virginia Tech will look to even up the series in game two on Saturday evening at 7 p.m.