Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com):  Under normal circumstances, 29 runs over three games would be more than enough to win three Baseball games, assuming your team scored in all three games, as the Wahoos did this weekend against Boston College.  Yet, inopportune cold spells at the plate, and big innings from the opposing bats, especially during the late innings, caused UVA to drop its first full ACC series of the year to the Boston Colleg Eagles, two games to one.   

Needless to say, after three run-rule victories in a row leading up to this series, and with a sellout crowd packing the Dish over the weekend, you would think it was all set up for the Cavaliers to bring the hammer down, especially as one of the highest ranked offenses in the nation during the preseason analysis blitz.  As it turns out though, Baseball happened.  Calls not going the way of the home team, pitch spots getting missed, little mechanical wrenches in the swing lead to outs rather than hits. Certainly, you need to be able to hit at the plate to make outs on the mound throughout all nine innings of a ballgame to win it.  That being said, there have been plenty of ballclubs, at any level, who have started the season slow and have lit up at just the right time to fly sky high into and through the postseason.   

Regrettably, there’s no easy points to reset form, especially not in the ACC. This week’s midweek contest will be at a neutral site, Virginia Credit Union Stadium in Fredericksburg, and the Hoos’ opponents will be the Maryland Terapins. The Terps are 8-7 on account of tough late-inning losses in extra innings over the course of the first 15 games in 2025.   The two most painful were an 11-9 defeat to Western Carolina in 10 innings back on February 23rd, and falling to UCLA after the Bruins posted a 6-run 10th inning last week on the 7th of March.  In the starting pitcher department, the Terps have not had much trouble, as you can imagine, it is their bullpen that has caused them to sink in winnable games.  Today’s Maryland starter, freshman Jake Yeager, has one steady start under his belt, tossing five innings of one run ball against the James Madison Dukes.  He got hit around by the Delaware Blue Hens in his first start of the year.   

Maryland shines on offense though, with a cadre of talented bats that make pitchers shake in their boots.  Sophomore utility man Chris Hacopian is the team’s average leader among its regular starters.  In eleven games he’s hitting .514, has only failed to notch a base hit once in eleven games, and has five multi-hit games under his belt.  However, their standout hitter is senior backstop Alex Calarco, batting .413 with 1.461 OPS, with 10 homeruns (good for second in the NCAA), and batting in 33 rbi’s (good for fourth in the NCAA).   

Trying to keep the Maryland offense quiet for the Hoos will be third-year left-handed reliever Bradley Hodges.  He is on his way back to top form after missing all of 2024 due to injury and has only thrown two innings of Baseball this year.    Will he and the Virginia pitching staff engineer a rebound performance before they hit the road to California this weekend?  Find out at 5:15pm on WINA.