Cavs top Hokies in final regular-season game

BLACKSBURG — For the first time since he was a freshman in high school, Danny Hultzen entered a baseball game and pitched from the stretch.

The fact that he entered at all was a good sign for Virginia. It meant the Cavaliers had a chance to win the contest.

The hard-throwing lefty did his part making that a reality, working three perfect innings in relief Saturday as No. 10 Virginia salvaged a game in the series by upending Virginia Tech 6-4.

The Cavaliers, who lost a pair of one-run games to the Hokies to open the series, finished the regular season 39-12-1 overall and 16-11-1 in the ACC. That mark in the league slots Virginia as the No. 6 seed in this week’s ACC tournament, coupling the program with second-seeded North Carolina, third-seeded Clemson and seventh-seeded Duke in pool play.

Considering the alternative against the team’s ever-improving rival, gaining momentum from the game for the league tournament did not go unnoticed in Virginia’s dugout.

“That was probably the most important game of the year,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “The reality is that we did not play good baseball in the first two games of this series.

“This was a big win for us. Even though we didn’t play well, we showed fight. Now, we need to go out and play good baseball. Next year, Virginia Tech is going to be a team to be reckoned with in our league.”

O’Connor elected to use Hultzen out of the bullpen in the series, but the Cavs did not lead after the middle innings of one of the first two games in the series.

Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, O’Connor finally went to his freshman phenom to relieve starter Robert Morey with a runner standing at first.

“It’s still pitching,” Hultzen said of working as a reliever.

Hultzen racked up the outs in relief, but not a high pitch count — he worked through the eighth, retiring nine batters — four on strikeouts — and used just 28 pitches.

“I did not want to start him and have him throw 90 or 100 pitches this weekend with the tournament starting Wednesday,” O’Connor said. “I did want to get him work, and he had some electric stuff today.”

Hultzen, among others, made sure that the rookie earned the win on the mound, improving to 7-1 on the season.

Virginia mounted its comeback with four runs in the seventh inning as Tyler Cannon and Keith Werman singled and Jarrett Parker walked only to score in unison on a triple into the right-field corner by sophomore Phil Gosselin.

Hultzen tacked on the final run of the frame with a flare that landed safely in center.

“We just wanted to keep adding more runs,” said Hultzen, who finished with two of Virginia’s game-high 13 hits.

Hultzen, who gave way to closer Kevin Arico for a perfect inning in the ninth, credited Morey for keeping Virginia in the contest after the starter struggled in the first frame.

Virginia Tech (32-21, 12-17), which was eliminated Friday from qualifying for the ACC tournament, scored three runs off five hits in the first.

“You have to tip your hat to them,” Morey said. “Honestly, they were good pitches. They were just putting good swings on good pitches.”

Morey allowed just one more run over his final four innings of work, a monstrous homer to left-center field by Mike Kaminski. The sophomore, who allowed all 10 of Virginia Tech’s hits, fanned nine batters and walked just one.

“Robert got into a groove after that first inning and threw the ball like we knew he could,” O’Connor said. “It was great to see him keep us in the game to buy time for offense.”

Offensively, Virginia junior Tyler Cannon continued to provide a spark. The shortstop registered three hits and scored two runs, finishing the series 10 for 13 at the plate.