Following yet another mid-major midweek loss, the Virginia Cavaliers won their fifth ACC series against Clemson over the weekend. The Wahoos improved to 12-9 in conference play and 28-13 overall in the process.
UVA pieced together rallies in the second and sixth innings en route to a fiery 6-4 victory in the series opener. The bats went quiet in Friday’s game, however, as the Cavaliers were held to just six hits and one walk in a 5-1 loss. The ‘Hoos once again bounced back to take the rubber match
on Saturday, surviving a well-played 5-4 affair behind outfielder Harrison Didawick.
Here is what we are taking away from the weekend:
Chris Pollard displays leadership in Thursday’s sixth inning fiasco
In the bottom of the sixth of the series opener, Virginia had a three-run lead with runners on first and second and one out — a real chance to blow the game wide open. Infielder R.J. Holmes hit a high pop up around home plate on which the Clemson catcher misjudged the path of the ball and let it drop in fair territory, inducing what would have been a bases-loaded situation.
However, after discussion, the umpiring crew retroactively ruled that the infield fly rule should come into effect, which entails that the batter is automatically out. While this was likely the correct call to be made originally, the infield fly rule is subjective and must be decided by an umpire immediately upon contact.
Virginia head coach Chris Pollard, a member of the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee, was all over that mistake, and confronted the umpires to defend his case, during which he was ejected.
In the postgame interview, Pollard explained to the media he further escalated the situation to protect his third base coach, Derek Simmons, from what he called “verbal abuse” from the umpires. Just a horrible look on all accounts from the crew, but also a great glimpse of how the Virginia skipper will fight for his guys.
The players clearly fed off his energy as well, which was evident by their on-field body language in the ensuing innings.
Henry Zatkowski’s versatility continues to help the team
The sophomore southpaw has worn many hats this season. Zatkowski began the season as Virginia’s ace, then helped follow the staff’s true number one guy Kyle Johnson as he ramped up his workload in the opener role, and later acted as a back end reliever.
Zatkowski returned to the starting role on Thursday, and tied a career-high with ten strikeouts, allowing just five hits, two walks, and three runs in seven gutsy innings. Through all of this inconsistency in terms of schedule, he has managed a 6-0 record in 12 appearances with 4.08 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP.
Aside from the occasional long ball allowed, and brief walk issues early on, Zatkowski has performed like one of the better pitchers in the league each time out. Even though the bullpen is desperate for left-handed options, the team is likely best suited to keep him in the rotation down the stretch.
It was a get-right series for the pitching staff overall
Clemson’s offensive struggles were well-documented entering this series and the Virginia pitchers took full advantage. While the staff has shown short stretches of brilliance throughout the season, this is the first time the ‘Hoos can say they held their opponent to five runs or fewer in all three weekend games.
The most important player to highlight here is freshman right-hander John Paone, who re-entered the rotation as the number three starter this weekend and tossed 4.1 innings of one-run ball. While Paone has had his ups and downs, he continued to attack the strike zone and generate swings and misses with his deceptive horizontal movement. Paone’s ability to control the run game further demonstrates his maturity at such a young age.
Lucas Hartman and his rubber right arm are always worth a mention as well. The Western Kentucky transfer added four more innings to his season total of 47, which trails only Zatkowski on the team leaderboard. Harmtan has managed an 8-0 record with a 2.49 ERA, while appearing in 59% of UVA’s games.
The Cavaliers withstand short-term injuries from their top two hitters
The Wahoos were without shortstop Eric Becker for two of these games as well center fielder A.J. Gracia for the series finale, both having suffered what is considered day-to-day injuries per ACC Central’s Monty Taylor. Even amidst Becker’s recent struggles, this duo has anchored the top of the order the entire year and has provided a bulk of the offensive production. Not to mention, they both play solid defense at premium positions.
While Virginia’s offensive performance as a whole was far from optimal, with the lineup continuing to struggle against lefties, timely hitting pushed them over the top in the Thursday and Saturday games. It was also by far Virginia’s cleanest showing in the field, with catcher Jake Weatherspoon making clear strides on both sides.
Saturday will be known as the “Harrison Didawick game”
Perhaps nobody has draft-eligible player has benefitted more from their decision to return to school than Didawick. In his senior season as one of the lone returners from last year’s team, the senior from Chesapeake has turned into a complete player.
At the plate, Didawick has posted career-bests in batting average (.341) and on-base percentage (.415), using all parts of the field and seeing his chase rates plummet. In the series finale, he followed that up with a renaissance in the power department, slugging two long balls in the contest (the “inside-the-parker” technically cleared the right field wall).
Didawick also saved the day in left field, leaving his feet to track down a pair of Clemson bloops in the ninth innings that had base hit written all over them. Instead of the Tigers potentially walking the Cavaliers off, they had one on and two out, allowing closer Tyler Kapa to secure the save and the weekend set.
