Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): It’s been a chaotic week of action in UVA Athletics to begin the month of April!  We saw season-altering series in Men’s Lacrosse and for UVA Baseball.  Softball took on a top ten team in the nation, and Virginia Track and Field continued to dominate the early season at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg!   Let us commence this week’s Wahoo Rundown, your first stop for a thorough, concise, water-cooler wrap up of all the can’t-miss moments of UVA sports!   

Virginia Baseball turned a corner after a three-game sweep of the Stanford Cardinal two weeks ago.  The offense found its rhythm, putting up 33 runs over the course of the three-game series, and they kept right on playing that tune against the struggling Old Dominion Monarchs this past Tuesday.  Aidan Teel, Eric Becker, and the Virginia bats put crooked numbers up in the first five innings against the ODU arms, totaling 11 runs in the midweek tilt.  A cold night made control difficult for some of Virginia’s bullpen arms, and they surrendered five runs to ODU, mostly via the walk, but it was a comfortable win for the Cavaliers going into another crucial conference series this past weekend.  The NC State Wolfpack entered play 19-11 and cracked the top 10 in the conference standings after an 11-game winning streak earlier in the year.  Virginia had a chance to climb the table before going into a run of winnable games before taking on the Florida State Seminoles in the middle of the month.  Six innings into game one, the Virginia offense took advantage of a game-management error by NC State coach Elliot Avent, jumping on exhausted NC State ace Dominic Fritton for four runs after being down 4-1 for the majority of the contest.  Despite nervy moments from the Virginia pen, the Hoos held on to win an 8-6 victory to start the series off on the right foot.  Wolfpack Saturday starter Heath Andrews did not have similar struggles going late into the second game against Virginia, holding the Hoos to just two runs while his own offense picked him up for nine runs against Virginia starter Evan Blanco to even the series at one game apiece by a score of 9-2.   That set up a rubber match with the series at stake, and the Hoos jumped all over the NC State staff for eight runs on six hits, including three each from Aidan Teel and Henry Ford.   Virginia took the lead into the bottom of the ninth.  However, control issues and solid clutching hitting threatened the Wahoo pen, before slugger Josh Hogue belted a walk-off three run homer to turn the game on its head, winning both it and the series for the Wolfpack.   As the dust clears, Virginia remains 10th in the ACC standings, and will make ready to face the conference #14, the Pitt Panthers, this weekend at Disharoon Park.  Before that, Virginia travels to Richmond to face the VCU Rams Tuesday evening.  The Rams are 10-21 on the year but are coming off of a series win against George Washington University two games to one.  Meanwhile, Pitt dropped two of three to Miami over the weekend, and are 17-14 on the year.  Tomorrow’s game with VCU starts at 6:30pm, Friday at the Dish begins at 6:00pm, 4:00pm on Saturday, and 1:00pm on Sunday.  You can listen live on 98.9 FM WINA and here on Cvillerightnow.com, including pregame coverage 15 minutes before each game.   

Meanwhile, Virginia Softball faced both old and new ACC rivals with a midweek battle against the Maryland Terrapins, and a weekend series against National #8 the Florida State Seminoles.  On Tuesday, the Terps took an early lead courtesy of control issues on the mound from Virginia starting pitcher.  They worked a couple of walks after an RBI single to push the first runs of the ballgame across.  The Hoos swiftly tied the game in the third on a three-run homerun from Jade Hylton, before MC Eaton hit the walk off homerun that won the Hoos the game in the bottom of the 7th inning, triumphing 4-3 for UVA.  The team headed to Tallahassee on the weekend and got off to a hot start in the series with Florida State.  Eden Bigham shut the Seminoles out over seven innings of solid work, and her offense picked her up for two runs on a Kailyn Jones triple and a Jade Hylton homerun.  Virginia won 2-0.  Unfortunately, it was followed by a painful collapse in game two.  After storming out to an 8-3 lead in the 5th, Virginia let FSU slowly sneak back into the ballgame over the last two frames, before losing the lead courtesy of a four run sixth inning, causing Virginia to fall 9-8.   On Sunday, two solo home runs were all the Hoos managed against a dominant Florida State pitching staff, falling in the rubber game 13-2 to the Seminoles, and losing the series two games to one.  This week, the Hoos will face two teams who have had stellar seasons this year.  The Liberty Flames have won 33 games and are coming off a series win against Middle Tennessee before Virginia comes to Lynchburg on Tuesday at 6:00pm.   On the weekend, the Syracuse Orange will be the Hoos’ guests at Palmer Park, and despite two series defeats to ACC foes Georgia Tech and UNC, they have won 22 victories on the year.  The Syracuse games are scheduled for Friday at 5:00pm, Saturday at 12:00pm, and Sunday at 1:00pm.   

Virginia Women’s Lacrosse entered the week ranked #9 in the nation with an out of conference test against the VCU Rams, and a senior day battle with the Louisville Cardinals this past weekend.  Virginia was completely in control beginning to end in Wednesday’s battle with the Rams, scoring in every quarter and only surrendering 5 goals to the home team, for a 14-5 victory.  The Hoos carried their momentum into an emotional day at Klocker Stadium on Saturday as they celebrated their seniors with a battle against the Louisville Cardinals.  Senior Day was, in every sense, a party, as the Hoos put up crooked numbers in every quarter, scoring six goals in the first, five in the second, two in the third, and four more in the fourth, to equal a 17-3 rout of the visitors to start the on-field celebrations.  Virginia was relentless all across the field, was awesome keeper play and 38 shots on goal thanks to the usual suspects, Jenna DiNardo, Kate Galica, Addi Foster, and dynamite freshmen Gabby LaVerghetta and Alex Reilly.  Such a performance was a perfect for seniors Abby Jansen, Maureen Duffy, Abby Manalang, Payton Meister, Kate Miller, and Morgan Koeneke, who said their goodbyes to Klockner Stadium.  Three games remain in the 2025 regular season, featuring two this week in #9 Maryland on Wednesday and #2 Boston College on Saturday.  Maryland awaits up the road on Wednesday at 6:00pm, and the Hoos will head to Newton, Massachusetts to square off with BC Saturday at noon.  The Terps just beat #18 USC last time out by a score of 16-8, while the Eagles just lost their first game of the year last time out against the North Carolina Tar Heels 12-11.   

The Virginia Men’s Lacrosse team headed to Chapel Hill on Saturday trying to catapult themselves over .500 against National #9 North Carolina.   Sadly, it was just not in the cards for Virginia, as the Heels doubled up the Hoos 18-9.  Dominic Pietramala put four past the Virginia defense in the rout, and they held the Hoos scoreless for nearly the final 25 minutes of play.  The Virginia men will hope to turn their fortunes around next Saturday against the 5-3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Indiana beginning at 5:00pm.  The Irish are coming off a 16-9 defeat to the Syracuse Orange last time out.   

#6 Men’s Tennis was at home against Georgia Tech and Clemson over the weekend in Charlottesville as conference play continued.  The Yellow Jackets of Georgia Tech were first up on Friday, and Virginia hit the ground for the weekend’s matches, putting in a near flawless performance, losing only one doubles match, and sweeping singles play to bring the match to a score of 4-0.  The #25 Tigers came next on Sunday and the Cavaliers were more than up to the challenge.  Virginia put up points in every singles match but one against the Tigers, with its stars, Jodar, Dietrich, Hopper, Kim, and Dahlberg all contributing to a 4-2 victory.  Their momentum tees up the Commonwealth Clash for next Friday in Charlottesville, as Virginia Tech comes to town for a Senior Day clash.  The Hokies are 10-13, beating Georgia Tech 5-2 last time. Meanwhile on the road, #5 Virginia Women’s Tennis only left one point on the court in two matches against Boston College and Syracuse. UVA stars Sara Ziodato, Melodie Collard, Martina Genis Salas, and Elaine Chervinsky, all claimed at least one singles victory across the two matches, as the Hoos swept the BC Eagles, and bested the Orange 4-1.  They will also take on Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash for Senior Day this week.  The Women take on the Hokies on Thursday at 4:00pm at the Virginia Tennis Facility, and the Men will take the court one day later on Friday at the same time.   

As we wrap it up this week on the rundown, Virginia Track and Field dominated over the weekend at the Colonial Relays in Williamsburg.  Tatum David obliterated the stadium record in the women’s 800m dash (2:05:12), Sarah Akpan won both the 100m and 200m dashes for Virginia with excellent times, and Jerimiah Wilson won the men’s 110m hurdles.  The Hoos once again won 10+ events at the meet, and they will head to North Carolina beginning on Thursday for the Duke Invitational.  Men’s Golf, at the time of writing, is competing at the Calusa cup in Naples, Florida, competition closes there on Tuesday 4/8.  Finally, the #11 Virginia Rowing team heads to Redwood Shores California this weekend to face #2 Stanford and #8 California.  That brings the Wahoo Rundown to a close for the week of April 7th, support UVA Athletics however and whenever you can!  See you next week!  Thanks for reading!