UVA Baseball senior righthander Jay Woolfolk. Photo: UVA Athletics
While it wasn’t a sweep, it was a must-have road series win over Virginia Tech this past weekend, and the UVA Baseball hurlers were impressive.
Virginia limited the Hokies to just eight runs, the second lowest for Tech this season. FSU held the Hammerin’ Hokies homerless.
Brian O’Connor’s Wahoos took two-of-three from the homestanding Hokies to secure the No. 6 seed and a first-round bye in the ACC Baseball Championship that began yesterday.
The ‘Hoos ended the regular season on a 12-2 run, winning five of its last six ACC series. In the most recent four series, the ‘Hoos have plated 99 runs (8.25/game) in league play. The Wahoos were one of three ACC clubs that did not lose back-to-back series in 2025.
Centerfielder and UVA leadoff hitter Aiden Teel says, “It’s been awesome.
“Everyone just has their confidence, and our confidence is at an all-time high. It’s a lot of fun; everyone is having fun playing the game. You can look around and everyone has a smile on their face. Even when things aren’t going their way, there’s no lead that can hold us.”
Noting the offense and defense
We’ll get to the pitching in a moment, but the UVA offense had some good moments as well.
For the weekend, the team hit .345, which included 14 extra-base-hits. UVA batters were fanned just 22 times: a rate of 18 percent in their 116 at-bats. Teel led the Hoos at the plate going 7-for-13 (.538), followed closely by third baseman Luke Hanson, who went 6-for-12 (.500). Kevin McMullen’s offense pounded out five home runs as part of their XBH barrage.
Virginia’s offense also collected 12 free passes and 11 RBI. Overall, the Cavaliers posted a .377 on-base percentage and a .552 slugging percentage for the three-day series.
Some other quickie stats:
Two-out RBI: 7-of-18 (.388)
Two out hitting: 12-for-35 (.342)
Hitting vs. LHP: 13-for-35 (.371)
Left on base: 31
The number that sticks out for me is the .371 batting average against left-handed pitching. Early in the year, that was a low, dwindling number. That’s a positive sign heading into postseason.
Defensively, the ‘Hoos limited Tech to a .223 batting average for the weekend, committed zero errors, and Tech’s top four hitters went 9-for-42, for a .213 batting average.
Noting the pitching
Considering that four of the Hokies five Game 2 runs came in the first 2 1/3 innings, the combination of Bryson Moore and Evan Blanco going 5.2 frames yielding just four hits and one run, the bullpen did its job.
Another combo that might have made The Dynamic Duo of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax proud was Game 1 starter Jay Woolfolk and Game 3 starter Tomas Valincius.
Thursday night, it was Woolfolk with an eight-inning gem that ended with a 12-2 victory for the Wahoos.
“This guy’s a big-game pitcher,” O’Connor stated. “He showed that last year, that when the moment’s big, he’s at his best.”
Woolfolk showed some of that big-game mentality early in Game 1, falling behind several hitters in 2-0 counts, but he maintained his composure and made the out-inducing pitches he needed to make.
“He’d come back and make some big pitches,” O’Connor continued. “I thought on the safety squeeze they tried to execute [in the fourth inning], [Jay] made that great diving play and threw the runner out at third base. That got him going, and he was lights out for the rest of the game.”
The senior righty allowed two earned runs on five hits, gave up one walk and set down six Hokies via the strikeout. Graduate student Wes Arrington finished it off in the ninth, needing only 11 pitches, eight for strikes, to send the Hokies to the showers.
Though a little tighter than the Thursday outcome, the Virginia starting and bullpen pitching in Game 3 was just as good.
UVA Baseball freshman lefty Tomas Valincius. Photo: UVA Athletics
Valincius tossed 6 2/3 innings, giving up the lone run off six hits to claim the win. He surrendered one base-on-balls and fanned six.
Coach O’Connor called the Baylor School [Chattanooga] product “a determined fighter” and “an absolute bulldog out there, and he’s shown it all year. I’m so proud of him.”
As a former pitcher, O’Connor understands the role and the emotion of starting a big game. The Virginia skipper says Valincius’s development over the course of season is showing come crunch time.
“The adjustments that he has made throughout this season to develop as a pitcher is really, really outstanding,” noted O’Connor. “Obviously, he’s got tremendous stuff, but it came down to his execution. There were a few times he fell behind in the count, and he had to battle back into the count.”
The pitch that Valincius seemed to have been working well was his heater, which reached mid-90s at times.
UVA Baseball coach Brian O’Connor. Photo: UVA Athletics.
“It came down to the execution of his fastball,” O’Connor added. “It was really good, and he had a nice changeup today, too. Just really proud of him pitching deep into the game again.
“I don’t know how many weeks in a row he’s done that, but I was really impressed with the back half of the season that young man has had.”
Righty Alex Markus and lefty Matt Lanzendorfer closed out the final 2 1/3 innings, completely shutting Tech down on one hit, a walk and two strikeouts.
Valincius has now gone 5 2/3 innings or more in his last five starts, including six-plus in four of those starts. The freshman southpaw has posted a 4-0 record in those six outings, but the bullpen could not hold down Georgia Tech and NC State in the other two contests, and UVA fell in both with one-run losses.
Adding the second member of the Dynamic Duo, Woolfolk has delivered six or more frames in four of his last six starts, and the ‘Hoos have ended each game with a victory.
Combined, UVA has won all eight games where Woolfolk or Valicius have been the pitchers of record and recorded 12 wins in the 14 games the duo has pitched during that span.
This week
Tonight, the ‘Hoos face Boston College in the second round of the ACC Tournament. The winner of that game will match up with North Carolina on Friday evening.
UVA Baseball may be one of the most dangerous teams as the postseason begins. They defeated the ACC regular-season champions 2-1 in Atlanta, they took on the then-hottest team in college baseball, Miami, winners of 10 consecutive ACC games, and like a hurricane, swept them, and closed the regular season by slamming another road club in Blacksburg.
I sense this UVA club is not ready for the 2025 campaign to end.
“We’re ready to go,” assures Teel. “It’s a lot of fun. We’re excited.”