Virginia baseball falls in ACCT opener, set sights on Notre Dame

The Virginia Cavaliers’ quest to be crowned ACC Baseball Tournament Champion ended almost as soon as it began on Wednesday in Charlotte. The ‘Hoos gave up six runs in the third winning, which was more than enough to fall at the hands of the Florida State Seminoles.

In fact, things got so bad, the game was called after eight innings as Florida State was up by ten runs. The “mercy” rule as it stands is a rule set in place for the ACC Tournament which states if any team is ahead by ten or more runs after the completion of at least seven full innings, the game ends. The rule is in place to protect pitching staffs from being overextended as postseason play forces teams to play multiple games in short periods of time.

The Seminoles used two doubles and a home run to plate six runs in the third inning, all of which were credited to Virginia starter Brian Gursky, who took the loss. Florida State added two more runs in the top of the fourth before the Cavaliers finally got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the inning. By that time it was too late as Florida State was ahead 9-3. The Seminoles added two pairs of runs in the seventh and eighth innings making the final score 13-3.

For Virginia, Jay Woolfolk spelled Gursky, and in addition to a two-run home run (credited to Gursky) allowed three earned runs of his own. Jake Berry and Dylan Bowers did settle things down for a couple innings combining for 2.2 innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Matthew Buchanan and Will Geerdes gave up the runs in the seventh and eighth innings, despite the game being well out of hand.

At the plate Griff O’Ferrall and Jake Gelof each went 2-4 while Kyle Teel, Casey Saucke, and Ethan Anderson each notched an RBI.

The loss in effect eliminates the Cavaliers from making the ACC Tournament Semifinals, but all is not lost. If Virginia can beat Notre Dame on Friday (and especially if Florida State beats the Irish as well) they can still make the case that they’re the fourth best team in the ACC hosting pecking order. The Hoos’ RPI has fallen to 20, however a win over Notre Dame would surely improve that number.

The two squads vying for ACC positioning face off at 11 AM EDT on Friday from Charlotte.