Walk-off homer ends marathon Commonwealth Clash; No. 18 Virginia sweeps Virginia Tech (2024)

The trait has been present all campaign long and in the regular-season finale, the never-quit, never-out-of-it relentlessness was on full display.

Virginia had already erased a seven-run deficit, which helped the Hoos push the contest into extra innings. And if they were going to polish off a series sweep of rival Virginia Tech, they’d need to come back again in last inning of the longest contest in Commonwealth Clash history.

“We were focused. It was intense,” Cavaliers outfielder Harrison Didawick said.

And while trailing by a run with a runner in the bottom of the 13th, Didawick, UVa’s leader in home runs, was locked in.

The left-handed-swinging slugger swung strongly one more time, punishing the baseball over the wall in right-center field to propel the No. 18 Hoos to a 10-9 walk-off triumph over the Hokies on Saturday night at Disharoon Park.

“I was just praying it went over,” Didawick said he thought as he was rounding the bases.

“I mean, it’s a dream come true,” he continued. “I’ve dreamed of a [walk-off homer] my whole life.”

The longball was a fitting conclusion to the series and Didawick’s outstanding regular season. It was his third homer in three days against Virginia Tech and his second in as many days against Hokies left-handed reliever David Shoemaker.

Tech coach John Szefc summoned Shoemaker particularly to face Didawick after Grant Manning walked Ethan Anderson to begin the home 13th.

UVa coach Brian O’Connor said he wasn’t surprised Szefc made that decision.

“[Shoemaker] has a good arm. He has a good slider,” O’Connor said, “and statistically, that’s the right move. Harrison Didawick has been a lot better against right-handers than left-handers.”

On this night, though, Didawick wasn’t going to give in against Shoemaker even after falling behind in the count.

As the baseball departed the ballpark, his teammates poured out of the dugout to mob him at home plate.

“It was lefty-lefty,” Didawick said. “But I think I’ve been hitting lefties well and it was good to see one come in and that I got a ball that I could handle.”

Said O’Connor: “Harrison Didawick has completely elevated his game. He was a really good player for us last year, and he just worked so hard to get better and the game is rewarding him and his approach at the plate. He’s a big-time player.”

The homer was his 22nd of the season and the Cavaliers’ (40-14, 18-12 ACC) 13th of the three-game series against the Hokies (32-20, 14-16 ACC).

UVa got back in the game with the home runs, too, after falling behind 7-0 through the first two innings when Tech tagged Hoos starter Owen Coady for six hits and five runs through one-plus innings.

Casey Saucke’s third-inning, two-run shot began to chip away at the largest deficit the Cavaliers successfully rallied to overcome all year. Their previous biggest come-from-behind win was against Iowa from down six runs on Feb. 24.

Then in the home seventh, Saucke’s RBI single came ahead of back-to-back home runs from four and five hitters Henry Ford and Jacob Ference. Ford’s was a line drive of a three-run shot that was hit hard and just had enough air under to clear the left-field wall while Ference’s game-evener was a no-doubter halfway up the left-field bleachers.

“There’s power throughout the lineup,” O’Connor said.

The Hoos had the chance to come back thanks in large part to their bullpen, both O’Connor and Didawick said.

Behind Coady, the Cavaliers got 12 innings of four-run ball from their relievers. Jay Woolfolk threw three scoreless innings after navigating the rest of the second inning while lefties Angelo Tonas and Blake Barker logged shutout appearances.

Barker entered after Aidan Teel in the 10th and got two ground outs to end a threat with a pair of runners on.

“In extra innings, each run matters so much,” Barker said. “So, you really have to focus on executing your pitches. Whatever spot or whatever pitch, you’ve got to really execute that pitch, so I was focused on putting the pitch where the spot was and doing my best to execute.”

O’Connor said the five relievers UVa used enabled the Cavaliers to stay in the game.

“Jay Woolfolk was outstanding,” O’Connor said. “Tonas, Barker, and [Chase] Hungate to manage that [13th] inning to only allow one run was huge because even if you fall behind by a run, you’re the home team and get another at bat and anything can happen.”

Hungate earned the win, his seventh of the year, after he threw two innings of one-run ball. The run he allowed came on a go-ahead sacrifice fly by Tech’s Eddie Micheletti Jr. that put the Hokies up 9-8.

But with Anderson, who had homered twice on Friday, and Didawick, one of the best power hitters in the country this season, due to bat, the Hoos were willing to take that chance.

“We just feel like we’re not out of any ballgame,” O’Connor said.

The win gave UVa its first sweep of Tech since 2016, which O’Connor and company said will provide the Cavaliers momentum heading into the postseason.

They’ll be the No. 4-seed in next week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte paired in a pool with fifth-seeded Florida State and No. 9-seed Georgia Tech.

“We’re pumped,” Didawick said. “We’re here to go to Omaha and win it all.”

Especially after the 13-inning marathon that lasted five hours and 10 minutes.

“I don’t think so,” Barker said when asked if he’d ever been part of a game like that.

“I’ve played some doubleheaders,” he said as he started to laugh, “but those were probably even shorter than tonight.”