Virginia pitcher Kyle Whitten hadn’t pitched more than two innings entering Wednesday’s game against Liberty. And even though he hadn’t proven he could do it, the Cavaliers absolutely needed a long outing from him in his first collegiate start.
It was going to be a bullpen night regardless, but the bullpen was taxed from a 12-inning game against George Washington on Tuesday night. Whitten didn’t just do what was asked of him, he did more.
The right-handed freshman tossed 4 2/3 innings, and allowed one run while striking out six batters. He walked the first batter, but was sharp throughout his performance, and Virginia went on to crush Liberty, 14-3, at Davenport Field.
“I just wanted to give the team as much as I could for as long as I could,” Whitten said. “I didn’t know what the coaches had in store. I just wanted to keep on trusting my defense.”
The Virginia offense did its part. Justin Novak’s RBI single sparked a four-run second inning, all of which occurred with two outs. Cameron Comer broke the game open in the seventh inning with a three-run home run, his second of the season. Tanner Morris also hit his second home run of the season later on in that inning.
The win means Virginia continues to beat the teams it needs to if it’s going to make a late-season run into NCAA Tournament contention. Liberty came into the game with a better RPI than the Cavaliers, but looked clearly overmatched in this one.
“Proud of our club from an offensive standpoint,” said head coach Brian O’Connor. “Certainly, it was an opportunistic night. I know we had 11 hits, but to score 14 runs. I think there was a point in the game, we didn’t have very many hits, maybe six or seven hits and we had about nine or 10 runs. Certainly there were guys that capitalized on opportunities.”
Morris had two hits. So did Cayman Richardson. Andy Weber had three hits. On top of 11 hits, Virginia walked 11 times.
The game took four hours and four minutes to complete as a result of those walks — as well as some long at-bats from Liberty batters. In the second inning, Whitten had two straight pitches that looked like they could be called strike three. On the third opportunity, he got LU’s Cam Locklear swinging to end the inning.
It wasn’t just Whitten that provided surprising and much-needed length. Griff McGarry hadn’t pitched since March 28 and had 12 walks in only 7 1/3 innings, but he pitched three spotless innings with only two walks and five strikeouts.
“He’s just around the strike zone a lot more,” Comer said. “It’s a lot easier for hitters when the guy’s not around the zone a lot, he’s in favorable hitters counts. … I think tonight, it was much different because Griff was on the attack. … Challenging hitters was a big difference.”
The Cavaliers’ offense piled it on late in the game against wild and ineffective Liberty pitching. After the two homers in the seventh inning, the Cavaliers started the eighth by drawing three straight walks.
All three would come around to score as Virginia emptied its bench, with nearly every starter coming out late in the game. With Jake McCarthy shelved for longer than expected because of his hand injury, and Caleb Knight back out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury, the lineup has some major holes.
But everyone contributed to the hit parade on Wednesday.
“I think hitting is contagious,” Comer said. “Once somebody has some success, it’s kind of a snowball effect. That’s what we attribute it to. Some guys gets a single, a double, whatever it may be. I think we feed off that and the energy that it brings.”
And with a bullpen light on reliable arms, it was guys that haven’t been reliable that took a step in turning their season around.