Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): Spring sports, like the weather, are heating up here in mid-March at the University of Virginia.  Last week, Virginia Softball continued its awesome winning streak at the friendly confines of Palmer Park, Men’s Lacrosse faced the highest ranked squad in the nation, Gary Martin and select members of TFXC headed out to the NCAA Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach, and the sleeping giant that is Virginia Baseball has awakened in the ACC.  Time to break it all down! 

 The week for Virginia Baseball began in Fredericksburg at a neutral site for a battle against an old ACC foe in the Maryland Terapins.  Coming off a disappointing series defeat against the Boston College Eagles, the Hoos needed a statement win against the vaunted Maryland offense.  What they got was a tense, exciting, ballgame from the first pitch to the very end that was not clean for either team but was a treat for the fans to witness.  13 pitchers between both teams were used, and the game came down to a game-ending wild pitch that allowed the Hoos to escape Virginia Credit Union Stadium with a victory, 7-6.  Full report HERE, but with momentum on their side, they headed to the ACC’s other coast to take on the California Bears in a three-game series. Cal ace Austin Turkington struck out seven Hoos in game one, giving up just one run on three hits en route to a 6-1 triumph over Jay Woolfolk and UVA.  Gavin Eddy again kept the Hoos offense quiet in game two, and Tomas Valincius was struck for eight hits and three runs in three and two third innings of work.  The Virginia bullpen gave up five more runs, and by the ninth, the game looked bleak.    That’s when the Virginia bats woke up.  The bugle began to blow, and the Hoos let loose and eight run volley, unleashing an offensive onslaught upon the California bullpen.  The explosion gave them the lead with three outs left to get, and though a bear claw left one final mark, the Hoos evened the series at one by a score of 10-8.  Evan Blanco entered the weekend rotation for the first time in 2025 and was steady across five innings in an excellent sign for his recovery.  He was quickly buoyed another enormous offensive rally, this time in the second inning, highlighted by a Henry Godbout grand slam that got out of the park in a hurry.  Wes Arrington, Matthew Buchanan, and Jack O’Connor took the baton over the line to see off the Bears for the game, 11-5, and the series two games to one.    Richmond awaits at midweek, and Duke comes to town this weekend for Brian O’Connor’s men.  The Spiders have only been handed two losses in the 20 games they’ve played this year, sitting at 18-2, and they are coming off a sweep of St. Bonaventure in which they put up double-digit run totals in every game.  Richmond vs UVA is at 4:00 PM from the Dish on Wednesday, and you can tune in for pre-game coverage and play-by-play commentary for the whole of the game here on WINA.  The Devils meanwhile, at one point ranked to begin the season, have had the wheels fall off in recent contests, most recently getting swept out on the West Coast by the #18 Stanford Cardinal.  They’ll be taking on UCONN midweek seeking to improve their 12-9 record.  Game One is on Friday at 6:00 PM, game two Saturday at 4:00 PM, and Sunday at 1:00 PM, coverage begins fifteen minutes before first pitch on WINA.   

#25 Virginia Softball got some frustration out after a 2-1 series defeat on the road in Blacksburg two weeks ago and wasted no time returning to Palmer getting back to hitting hard and winning ballgames.  They welcome the JMU Dukes on Tuesday and put six runs past them while shutting the Harrisonburg squad out.  The game finished 6-0.  The Boston College Eagles came to town on the weekend, and again the Hoos came to the ballpark with their eyes in, striking quickly in game one thanks to a pair of homeruns from Sydney Hartgrove and Macee Eaton.  As it turned out, those three rbis were all they needed, and Virginia won game one 3-1.  The Saturday doubleheader was a little more explosive, game two began with an early rbi from Eaton.  After the offense continued at a steady clip in the early innings, Reese Holbrook went yard to put the game out of reach for the visitors by a score of 4-2.   The Eagles had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the Cavaliers’ bad fielding and avoidable mistakes in game three, and they took most of them while getting the better of Virginia pitching in all the right ways, putting up eight runs in the final game of the series.  Eight runs though, would not be enough, two bombs from Jade Hylton, one more from Macee Eaton to continue her scorching weekend, and Bella Cabral’s early bomb totaled nine runs for the Hoos to allow them to sweep the doubleheader and the series after a 9-8 finish in game three.  The 10-16 George Mason Patriots will come to Palmer on Tuesday evening at 5:00 PM, they are coming off a 2-1 series win against the University of Rhode Island last weekend though.  The California Bears come to town this weekend, they are 22-5 this year and just had their 16-game win streak ended by Georgia Tech last time out.   Game one is Friday at 5:00 PM, game two Saturday at 2:00 PM, and game three Sunday at 1:00 PM.   

 Men’s Lacrosse has had a challenging season in 2025 so far, but coming off a good recent run of form, they had yet to face a challenge like the undefeated Maryland Terapins on Saturday at Klockner.  Full report HERE, but the Hoos did manage to put six past the ironclad Maryland defense.  Unfortunately, the Terps are #1 for a reason, and they doubled the Hoos up 12-6.  Earlier that day though, the #25 UVA Women’s team sent #13 Duke packing by an impressive score of 16-11.   Down at the interval, a massive second half rally began by second year attacker Addi Foster and ended by freshman Gabby LaVerghetta, that featured goals by Jenna DiNardo and Abby Manalang that kept the pressure on until the bitter end.  It was a terrific statement win for the program, and they will need the confidence gained from such a win ahead of a ranked battle on the road Wednesday against #14 JMU at 6:00 PM, and another Saturday ACC showdown against Pitt at 3:00 PM.  The Dukes are 5-2 coming off a 20-8 victory against Vanderbilt, while the Panthers are 5-4 after being defeated by #8 Syracuse 17-11 last time out.  As for the Men’s team, they’ll face UAlbany on Tuesday at 4:00 PM at Klockner and Utah at noon on Saturday, also at home.  UAlbany is 2-5 in 2025, beaten 12-11 by Bryant in their last game.  Utah is 1-6 and lost by the same score to Marquette in their last game.   

The #5 Virginia Men’s tennis team took care of business against Boston College and SMU over the weekend on Friday and Sunday respectively, both matches ended with a 4-1 score in favor of the Hoos.  The Hoos improved to 24-0 all-time against BC in tennis, only the doubles teams of Liam O’Leary/Caleb Saltz and Andrew Ilie/Matthew Overvelde scored wins against Virginia players, giving the visitors a cautious sense of optimism, before singles wins from #18 Rafael Jodar, #22 Dylan Dietrich, Roy Horovitz, and Stiles Brockett put the Eagles back on the bus.  Vikas Deo/Xavier Calvelo as well as Trevor Svajda/Louis Cloud beat Virginia in doubles play on Sunday, but that was all the Mustangs would get.  Jodar, Horvitz, and Dietrich both stayed in the win column, and Mans Dahlberg wrapped up the Hoos’ singles dominance for the weekend.  Next weekend, the two west coast squads come to town, with #15 Cal on Friday at 6:00 PM, and #9 Stanford on Sunday at 3:00 PM.  The Bears are 11-2 and saw over Notre Dame in their last meeting 4-3, and Stanford is 12-4, beating Louisville 4-2 last time out, and will play VT before coming up to Charlottesville.   The #3 ranked Women’s team is also back in action this weekend, also against Cal and Stanford, also on Friday and Sunday, but at 3:00 PM and 12:00 PM respectively.    The Cardinal are 10-3 after falling to Cal 4-3 in their last match, while the Bears are 7-4.   

To wrap-up the Rundown, Gary Martin finished second place in the 3000m final at the NCAA Indoor Championships in Virginia Beach, that finish, couple with the DMR team getting the first NCAA title in program history in that event, led the Virginia men to finish sixth in the country, their best ever point total at the championships with 23.  Outdoor Track begins this weekend, Saturday the 22nd at Lannigan Field on Grounds.  In New Jersey, diver Lizzy Kaye won the 1m final at the NCAA Zone Diving Championships.  She finished second in 3m and 10th on platform.  Finally, a cadre of four Virginia wrestlers head to Philadelphia for the NCAA championships at the Wells Fargo Center beginning Thursday.  Full report on that HERE.  That’s it for your Wahoo Rundown this week, support UVA athletics and of course, Go Hoos!