Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): Last week there was turbulent action in Virginia Athletics across grounds and on the road under the V-Sabre Flag.  Baseball had its statement win of the year, a softball homerun record fell, and the splendid speedsters of Virginia Track and Field racked up many event wins at the Duke Invitational!   It’s Monday, time for The Wahoo Rundown! 

We start on the Baseball diamond, as the Diamond Hoos tried to turn the page at the beginning of last week following a walk-off series defeat in game three against NC State.   On Tuesday, they rolled up Interstate 64 and hammered VCU 13-0.  Five Cavaliers had at least two RBI’s against thoroughly outmatched VCU pitching, and Bradley Hodges had his best start of the year.  The junior lefty has trimmed his earned run average down to a paltry 1.17 as Virginia’s midweek starter.  That set them up to tackle a struggling Pittsburgh team at Disharoon Park.  A series victory against them would set Virginia up with both offensive and defensive momentum against a Florida State team close to the top of the ACC this weekend in Tallahassee.  After rain turned game one into a Saturday doubleheader, Virginia slugger Henry Ford put an end to a thrilling back and forth battle that lasted all nine innings with one swing of the bat.  Ford’s homerun brought Virginia the final two runs of the ballgame, and the Hoos took the series lead by a score of 7-5. In game two, Pittsburgh took a big lead through the first 2/3 of the action, but Virginia slowly clawed its way back into contention.  Despite another two-out homerun in the bottom of the ninth, this time from Harrison Didawick, Virginia came up short in their comeback bid, and Pitt evened the series by a score of 8-7.  As for game three, it was nowhere near the contest the first two games were.  Virginia hammered Pittsburgh hurlers for 18 runs in a seven-inning run-rule victory.  Virginia hit three homeruns as a team including a Jacob Ferrence grand slam.  At 9-9 in the conference, Virginia finds itself in a four-way tie for seventh.  They have their best opportunity to climb the standings down in Tallahassee after the Seminoles stumbled in a three-game sweep to the Virginia Tech Hokies.  That dropped FSU to third at 11-4 in conference play.   Virginia’s three games with Florida State are scheduled for Thursday at 7:00pm, Friday at 7:00pm, and Saturday at 2:00pm.  You can listen to all three of the games on WINA and here on Cvillerightnow.com. Pregame coverage is also available 15 minutes before each game.  Virginia also will take on the Liberty Flames for a second time, this time in Charlottesville, after the Flames dispatched the Hoos in Lynchburg back on March 25th, 5-3.  That game is at 6:00pm at Disharoon Park, and you can listen to it on WINA.  The Flames are 22-14 after losing three games at home to Western Kentucky.   

The story of last week for Virginia Softball was dominated by the exploits of their mighty shortstop, Jade Hylton.  Beginning on Tuesday, the junior was closing in on the career homerun title of 35 held by the great Sara Larquier.  Though the team stumbled, Hylton jumped on her 35th career homerun in the seventh inning against the Liberty Flames in Lynchburg.  Despite Virginia’s loss, Hylton’s next swing could go straight into history.  The Friday rain also postponed the first game of Virginia’s series with Syracuse this past weekend.  Hylton did not nab her homer during the doubleheader, Saturday’s stars were Virginia’s pitching staff.  Julia Cuozzo and Eden Bigham (who already has a perfect game under her belt in 2025), combined for a seven inning no hitter in game one that saw a 5-0 Virginia victory.  That would be impressive enough, but Courtney Layne and Ava Hodges did it AGAIN in game two, with Layne pitching three scoreless and hitless innings, while Hodges finished the last two.  Virginia won game two 10-0 in five innings.  Virginia would sweep Syracuse the next day.  Bigham started the game and got the win after three solid innings of work, Virginia pitchers combined for only two runs given up in helping get the game over the line.  As for Hylton, she did not have to wait long to get a pitch she liked, taking Syracuse’s Maddie Knight deep as the leadoff batter in the first inning.    She spurred on a 10-run outburst for Virginia that helped the Hoos nab win #30 for the 2025 season by a score of 10-2.   The Cavaliers will host Radford on Tuesday at Palmer Park, first pitch is at 5:00pm, before a weekend series starting on Thursday against the Louisville Cardinals.  Games are at 5:00pm Thursday, Friday at 5:00pm, and Saturday at 1:00pm for Senior Day.  Louisville is 22-18 after a series victory against Boston College last week.  Radford meanwhile is 24-20 and is coming off a series victory against the Longwood Lancers last week.   

Its been a difficult run for Virginia Men’s Lacrosse this season, and entering play against #5 Notre Dame on Saturday, they were running out of chances to catapult themselves into a place where they can make noise in the playoffs.  However, getting a victory against an impressive Irish team would be a tall order.  The Hoos stood stalwart in the first half, keeping up with the Irish pound for pound.  Matthew Nunes made three physics-defying saves, and two hard-earned goals from Truitt Sunderland and Ryan Colsey gave the Hoos a tenuous lead.  Jack Walshe would score another goal after the Irish tied the game at four in the third quarter, Notre Dame then kept the off the board and scored seven unanswered goals to take permanent control of the game and get back into the win column by a score of 12-7.   For the Hoos, senior day looms next week, face-off is Saturday at 1:00pm at Klockner Stadium against the 8-4 Lafayette Leopards.  Lafayette is coming off an 11-9 victory against #15 Boston University.    

Meanwhile, a dynamite performance from the #11 Virginia Women’s Lacrosse team allowed them to knock off #9 Maryland in Towson by a score of 13-9.  Full report HERE, three different Hoos had at least three goals in the victory.   Maryland was a difficult opponent, but #2 Boston College would be a test unto itself as the weekend arrived.  The Eagles proved their metal on Saturday quickly into the game, scoring six goals to just one goal for the Hoos.   The second quarter was kind to Virginia, cutting into the lead and trimming a six goal lead down to just one, and the interval came with BC up on UVA 7-6.  The Eagles employed a shock and awe strategy to begin the second half, scoring seven unanswered, and they did not relinquish the lead again for the remainder of the game.  When the dust settled, it ended in favor of the Eagles by a score of 24-11.  Ahead Wednesday for Virginia is the final game of the regular season, the Commonwealth Clash against the Virginia Tech Hokies.  VT arrives at Klockner Wednesday night for a 7:00pm faceoff with the Hoos.  The Hokies are 9-7 and just dispatched #11 Syracuse 14-11 last time out.   

Speaking of the Commonwealth Clash, the #5 Women’s Tennis and #6 Men’s Tennis teams both squared off with Virginia Tech last week.  The Women’s team took the Hokies on first on Thursday night and comfortably swept them 4-0.  All five ranked players were in action and earned victories as Virginia did not leave a single point on the court.  As for the Men’s team, despite suffering two defeats in singles play, its fearsome twosome of Rafael Jodar and Dylan Dietrich both earned victories along with Mans Dahlberg, who finished off clinching point #5 to bring the score to Virginia 5, Virginia Tech 2.  They also honored grad student James Hopper with a senior day victory!  Both teams will be at the ACC championships in Cary, North Carolina beginning tomorrow and lasting all week.  The Women and Men are the 4th and 5th seeds in their respective brackets.  

As we come to the end of our Wahoo Rundown, here are the highlights of some final events from some other stars of Virginia Sports.  At the Duke Invitational, Virginia Track and Field racked up several victories.  Alex Sherman won the Men’s 400m hurdles with a time of 50.51, Estel Valeanu won the discus throw with a meet and facility record mark of 55.59m as well as the shot put with a 15.29m.  And over at the Carl Knight Invitational in Texas, Ethan Robinson also put in a stellar performance that won him the Decathalon with a total of 7531 points.   TFXC has the Virginia Challenge here in Charlottesville up next this weekend.  Men’s Golf finished 7th overall at Calusa Pines in Florida last week behind a top 3 of Florida, Louisville, and UCLA.  Golf is at home in Charlottesville at Birdwood for the Lewis Chitengwa Memorial beginning today at the time of writing.   Women’s Golf will be back in action in Greensboro beginning Wednesday.  Finally, at the Redwood Shores Regatta, Virginia Rowing took second place behind California and Stanford in six different events across the weekend.  Stanford won both Varsity Eights and the Varsity Four on Sunday, and California won those three events on Saturday.   

That concludes your Rundown for the week, take every opportunity you can to support UVA Athletics!  See you next week and Go Hoos!