Cal overcomes early deficit to defeat Virginia in series finale
WVEC-TV No. 23 Virginia baseball fell to Cal, 8-7, on Sunday afternoon at Disharoon Park in the Cavaliers’ final home game of the regular season. Virginia dropped to 33-18 overall and 13-14 in ACC play, while Cal improved to 27-24 and 10-17 in conference action with the series-clinching victory.
Despite the loss, Virginia’s Joe Tiroly delivered a historic performance at the plate by hitting three home runs. He became just the seventh player in program history to homer three times in a single game and the second Cavalier to accomplish the feat this season. Virginia built an early 4-0 lead through the first three innings before Cal rallied behind a seventh-inning grand slam to take control of the game.
Kyle Johnson received a no-decision after allowing four runs on four hits across six innings while striking out multiple batters. Lucas Hartman was charged with the loss after surrendering the go-ahead grand slam in the seventh inning. Before first pitch, Virginia honored Noah Jouras, Kevin Jaxel, Joe Colucci, Lucas Hartman, Harrison Didawick and Dean Kampschror during a Senior Day ceremony.
The Cavaliers opened the scoring in the first inning when Tiroly launched a solo home run. Later in the frame, Sam Harris added a two-run homer to give Virginia a 3-0 advantage. The blast was Harris’ team-leading 14th home run of the season.
Virginia extended the lead to 4-0 in the third inning when AJ Gracia connected on his 13th home run of the year with a drive beyond the center-field wall. Cal began its comeback in the fifth inning with a sacrifice fly and a two-run home run by Gannon Snyder to cut the deficit to 4-3. Tiroly responded in the bottom half of the inning with his second home run of the day, pushing Virginia’s lead to 5-3.