Notebook: Seniors come up big for the Wahoos on Senior Day
They lined up in front of the pitcher’s mound at Disharoon Park, framed jerseys at their feet, just before Sunday’s series finale against Wake Forest. The 12 seniors on the Virginia baseball team, plus fourth-year manager Bryce Rosenberg, side-by-side for the traditional senior day group photo.
It’s a senior class that, as of that photo op, would be the first in Brian O’Connor’s 18-year tenure as head coach at UVa to never play in an NCAA regional. The Hoos missed the postseason in 2018 and 2019, then the 2020 tournament was canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. After a slow start this season, the Cavaliers have used a second-half surge to get back into NCAA contention. But winning the series this past weekend against Wake was essential. A three-game sweep would have been even better.
With those seniors leading the way in their final weekend at home, the Wahoos were able to get that job done.
“They know this is the last weekend of baseball in this stadium,” O’Connor said after Sunday’s walk-off 5-4 win clinched the first three-game sweep since March 2019. “I know it’s special to them. I know it’s special for them to wear this uniform and they have a lot of pride in it.”
“It’s been a roller coaster ride here for our class,” said fourth-year outfielder Christian Hlinka, whose RBI double in the ninth inning won Sunday’s game. “We’ve been through a lot. But it makes it even sweeter. It makes it even better. Just makes all that hard work, the grinding of the fall for four years and everything that we’ve done, that just showed right there that it works.”
Andrew Abbott had the biggest weekend among the seniors. The lefty struck out a career-high 16 hitters—tied for third-most in a game in Virginia baseball history—in 7.1 no-hit innings on Friday night. Another senior, right-hander Griff McGarry, completed the no-hitter by striking out the side in the ninth inning of UVa’s 17-0 win.
No one on the current roster has appeared in more games in a UVa uniform than Alex Tappen (146 games) or Brendan Rivoli (143). Entering the season, the veteran outfielders each had seven career home runs, which at the time tied Zack Gelof for most on the active roster. Both were homerless until this weekend.
Rivoli’s two-run shot gave the Hoos an early five-run cushion in Friday night’s eventual rout. Tappen’s solo homer came in a more crucial spot. The Cavaliers were down a run when he stepped up with two outs in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game. He took a 1-2 pitch into the seats beyond the left field fence to tie it 5-5. UVa eventually won 6-5 on a walk-off hit by freshman Jake Gelof in the bottom of the ninth.
“We know as a team what we need to do,” Tappen said after Saturday’s game. “I was just ready to battle and compete, and I got a good barrel on it.”
Senior right-hander Blake Bales only allowed one baserunner across the final 2.2 scoreless innings of that win on Saturday to improve to 3-0 on the year, and lower his season ERA to 0.50. On Sunday, it was sixth-year senior Stephen Schoch (3-1) who earned the win out of the bullpen after stranding one runner in the eighth to keep it a one-run Wake lead, and two more in the ninth after the Wahoos had tied the game 4-4.
“I can’t even begin to mention how awesome it is,” said Schoch, a graduate transfer from UMBC in his second season with the Wahoos. “Just being able to help the guys win, especially the guys who have been here for four years. They’ve been here a little bit longer than I have, but just to honor them the right way and send them off the right way in their college careers.”
Fourth-year designated hitter Devin Ortiz had a pair of hits in Sunday’s game, including a leadoff single in the second inning that ignited a three-run frame for the Wahoos. And then Hlinka provided the weekend’s final heroics. After entering the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, he followed a leadoff walk by Jake Gelof in the ninth with a deep fly ball that dropped into the gap in right-center. Gelof scored from first on the double, giving the Wahoos their second walk-off win in as many days.
It’s unusual for an elite program like Virginia to have such a large number of veterans on the roster to honor on senior day. But COVID-19 prompted Major League Baseball to shorten last summer’s draft to five rounds, and the NCAA to provide an extra year of eligibility because of the pandemic. So the Cavaliers were able to retain a dozen players who either could have been drafted or would have exhausted their eligibility under normal circumstances.
After celebrating Sunday’s victory, Hlinka conceded that none of the team’s seniors would have expected to all return as a group for their fourth seasons prior to the pandemic. He also said he couldn’t have scripted a better final weekend at home for those UVa seniors.
“Everybody being able to go out there and just take care of their business, do their job and make the most of it,” Hlinka said. “It was just surreal. It was unbelievable, and honestly the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball. I’ll remember it forever.”
Sweep Comes at a Crucial Time
In O’Connor’s first 16 seasons at Virginia, his teams have recorded a total of 42 three-game sweeps against ACC opponents. But the last came against Pitt at Disharoon Park in late March 2019. Prior to last weekend against Wake Forest, the Wahoos had gone 18 series without winning all three games.
“You’ve got to play great in every facet of the game,” O’Connor said after the Cavaliers completed the sweep. “It’s difficult to do.”
Adding to the degree of difficulty against Wake was the reality that UVa probably needed to take all three games to stay on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Hoos entered the weekend 22-21 overall, and just 13-17 in the conference. To get to 18-18 by the end of the season—a .500 conference record is widely considered the target for ACC teams trying to reach an NCAA regional—the Cavaliers were looking at having to go a combined 5-1 against the Demon Deacons and at Boston College this week.
Prior to sweeping Wake Forest, they had won four of their previous five conference series. But they were still trying to rebuild their resume after a 4-11 start in ACC play that included a three-game sweep by Notre Dame at Disharoon Park in mid-March.
“The problem is, when you get swept like we did by Notre Dame here, you’ve got to make up for it at some point,” O’Connor explained. “I was hoping we’d be able to make up for it before the second-to-last weekend.”
The Wahoos were able to do that by playing complementary baseball all weekend. They hit .324 as a team against the Demon Deacons, including a .333 batting average with runners in scoring position. The pitching staff got quality starts from both Abbott on Friday and Nate Savino on Sunday, plus seven relievers combined to give up just two runs across 11.2 total innings of work. Wake entered the weekend leading the ACC with 75 home runs, but hit just two.
“Really to do it, you feel like you’ve got to have a complete team,” O’Connor said of the formula for sweeping a team. “I feel like we’re getting closer to that, and so that’s encouraging and makes me feel good about where we’re at at the most important time of the year.”
Virginia is 7-4 all-time at Boston College. That includes wins in both games of a rain-shortened series the first time UVa visited Chestnut Hill in 2007, also in the final weekend of the regular season.
The last time the Cavaliers rattled off consecutive sweeps in ACC play came in 2011. They won three straight at home against Maryland to end March then took all three against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg the first weekend in April.
Abbott Adds His Name to Another Exclusive List
After Friday night’s dominant performance, Abbott has made a bit more Virginia baseball history.
On Monday, he was named the ACC pitcher of the week for the second time this season. Prior to this month, UVa hadn’t had a pitcher win that award since Derek Casey in April 2018. Abbott has earned it for consecutive starts.
Against Wake Forest, the first eight outs Abbott recorded were via strikeout. He was at 11 of 12 by the end of the fourth inning, then struck out the side again in the fifth to match his previous career high (set twice already this season) with 14. Abbott ended his historic night by striking out Shane Muntz leading off the eighth inning. That gave him 16 on the night, the most since Nathan Kirby struck out 18 in his no-hitter at Pitt on April 4, 2014.
Abbott only allowed two baserunners, on walks to Wake’s Brock Wilken in the first and fourth innings. He combined with freshman Jake Berry and McGarry for the seventh no-hitter in program history.
In his previous start prior to final exams at Virginia Tech, Abbott gave up one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in UVa’s 18-1 victory to win his first ACC pitcher of the week.
He is the first player to be named ACC Pitcher of the Week twice this season and the first pitcher at Virginia to earn the award twice in the same season since Connor Jones in 2016. He’s the eighth UVa pitcher all-time to win the award twice in a season. Brandon Creswell is the school’s lone three-time honoree in a single season, earning the hat trick in 2001.
Danny Hultzen won it four times in his three-year UVa career, including twice during his ACC pitcher of the year campaign in 2011.
Younger Gelof Solidifying Spot in the Lineup
A shoulder injury suffered late in last month’s win at home against Liberty has limited Ortiz to serving as the designated hitter in the seven games since. He indicated last week that he expected to remain at DH as a precaution and he was in that role all weekend against the Deacs.
Because of that injury, Jake Gelof became Virginia’s new first baseman out of necessity. In his seven-game audition, Gelof has solidified his spot in the everyday lineup.
Heis slashing .370/.469/.630 since taking over for the opener at Virginia Tech, with 10 runs scored and seven RBI. Starting with a 3-for-6 night in that first game in Blacksburg, Gelof has multiple hits in four of the last seven games. Six of his 10 hits in that stretch have gone for extra bases.
Gelof had at least one hit, at least one run scored, and drove in at least one run in each of UVa’s three games against WFU. He also drew four walks on the weekend, including one to lead off the ninth inning on Sunday. Gelof scored on Hlinka’s double into the right-center field gap a play later.
“He’s aggressive at the plate,” O’Connor said. “He’s doing a really nice job. He’s competitive with two strikes and that’s continued to progress. He’s got some strikeouts but a lot of those were early on, and he’s learned to fight and battle with two strikes and find his way on base. He’s got some thunder in that bat that’s going to show even more at some point.”
Gelof had a knack for coming through in key spots against the Demon Deacons. Before scoring the winning run on Sunday, his ground-rule RBI double to deep center field capped a three-run second inning. On Saturday night, with the game tied 5-5 and one out in the ninth inning, Wake intentionally walked Chris Newell to load the bases for Gelof. He took the first pitch he saw back up the middle through the drawn-in infield for the walk-off RBI single.
Within moments, he had his shirt off in shallow right field as he was swarmed by teammates sprinting out of the UVa dugout to celebrate, with his older brother Zack leading the charge.
“It’s a crazy feeling,” Gelof said in the aftermath of that celebration. “Not many words can describe it. It’s satisfaction. It’s excitement. Being ecstatic. Seeing all your teammates come over, running toward you.”
McGarry Hopes to Keep Making Contributions
About a month ago, shortly after McGarry was removed from the weekend rotation, pitching coach Drew Dickinson was asked about the fourth-year right-handers struggles to consistently throw strikes.
“It’s tough, but the season is long,” he replied. “He’s struggled at times. We’re working on stuff right now to get back to, and get him to where everybody thinks he can be effective. Because man, if you come watch a game, you see the stuff. The stuff is the best stuff in the ballpark, if not the country. It’s just about taking that stuff and having it work for you in a game setting.
“It hasn’t gone the way he’s wanted it. It hasn’t gone the way anyone has wanted it,” Dickinson later added. “But what I would stress is that the season is still young, it’s still not over and he has a chance to still have some huge outs and huge innings for this club.”
Under normal circumstances, entering a ballgame with a 17-run lead in the ninth inning would not qualify as a high-leverage situation. But when McGarry came on in relief of Berry on Friday night, he was tasked with recording the final three outs to finish off the combined no-hitter.
McGarry saw it as a huge opportunity.
“I honestly felt a little bit numb,” he said afterward. “Didn’t have much feeling. Not many thoughts went through my head. I was just trying to throw it right through (catcher) Kyle Teel, and pitch to contact and get outs.”
Both McGarry’s tantalizing stuff and his lingering control issues were on display in that ninth inning. He struck out the first batter he faced on three pitches, then walked the second hitter on four straight. McGarry regrouped to record two more strikeouts to complete the Cavaliers’ historic performance.
O’Connor called it an “awesome” moment for McGarry afterward.
“If he can throw the ball like that, that’s a game-changer for us moving forward,” the head coach said.
McGarry has recorded 42 strikeouts and 32 walks in 24.1 innings pitched this season. That’s 15.5 strikeouts and 11.8 walks per nine innings. Friday marked his first appearance since he was charged with three runs (on three walks and a hit batter, with no hits allowed) and failed to record an out in a start at VCU on April 20. It was his first scoreless inning since March 26 against Miami.
McGarry was carrying an 0-4 record and 6.85 ERA in seven starts when he was supplanted in the weekend starting rotation by Savino in April. Friday was his second relief appearance since that move. It’s a role that McGarry says he’s comfortable with after spending time in the bullpen both as a freshman at Virginia and during summer ball stints.
He hopes Friday’s performance will lead to more opportunities to get those “huge outs” his pitching coach predicted would be in McGarry’s future.
“Any way I can contribute, that’s what I want to do for the team,” he said. “I hope there’s a lot more moments like that, high-emotion moments for anyone on the team.”
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