WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The third inning had been the Achilles’ heel for Noah Murdock — the thorn in his side, his weakness. It was any cliché that you can think of, really. In Murdock’s previous two starts, he’d recorded a combined four outs in the third inning while allowing a combined seven runs.
The third inning against Wake Forest on Friday started much the same way for Murdock, but instead, it turned out to be arguably the most dominant inning of his injury-shortened season. Murdock, the Virginia starting pitcher, got behind 3-1 on the first two hitters but came back to strike them both out before striking out the side for good measure.
He put together his best performance of the season, backing a quick offensive burst in a 15-3 Virginia win over Wake Forest on a rain-delayed Friday night at David F. Couch Ballpark.
“I think just challenging and throwing strikes,” Murdock said of the difference. “I think the defense played phenomenally. I think going out there with 3-1, 2-1 counts, giving them the ball and letting the defense make plays is what really worked.”
Andy Weber crushed a 402-foot home run to right field with two outs in the first inning off WFU starter Morgan McSweeney. Two batters later, Alex Tappen hit a 404-foot, two-run homer to make it 3-0. Both tied Cameron Comer for the team lead with four homers, and it was the third time this season that UVa has hit multiple homers in the same inning. The fourth would come later on in the game.
“I thought it was a great offensive day for us,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Probably the best we’ve had all year. I don’t think we’ve had four home runs this season in a game.”
Tappen continued his hot hitting with an RBI single in the third inning. Then the Cavaliers were boosted by a pair of errors in the top of the fifth to score another two runs.
The win snaps an ugly stretch for UVa, which had been outscored 18-6 in its past two games against Richmond and WFU. It’s clear at this point that Virginia will need to win the ACC Tournament if it wants to make the NCAA Tournament for a 15th-straight season, but the purpose of these final regular season games can be to find some momentum entering the postseason.
That momentum came on Friday in the form of Murdock, who pitched four capable innings, allowing just one run while tossing a career-high five strikeouts. Andrew Abbott was also excellent in relief, tossing 3 1/3 innings while striking out six. He stabilized the game after Blake Rohm allowed two runs in 2/3 of an inning.
The best story of the night, though, came in the game’s final inning. It didn’t dictate the outcome in the game, aside from the final score.
Jack Weiller entered the ninth inning with no home runs and no RBI in his three-year, injury-hampered college career. He led off the ninth inning with a home run that snuck over the right-center field wall.
“It was electric in the dugout because we were so happy for him,” Murdock said. “Stuff like that is what’s going to drive us to win the playoff games.”
Then the Cavaliers scored a bunch of runs against an abysmal Demon Deacon bullpen. And Weiller strolled up to the plate for the second time in the inning with runners on the corners and one out. Weiller, who entered mid-game with a .130 batting average, hit the second home run of the inning and his career.
“Jack’s a great kid. He’s a grinder,” O’Connor said. “He’s had a tough couple of years with his injuries. I’m just happy for him. That’ll be a memory he’ll have. It’s hard in baseball to hit two home runs in a game, and he’ll always have that.”
It capped off a nine-run Virginia inning, its most since posting 11 against VMI in 2016. And Weiller capped off UVa’s night in style.
So, which was better. The first home run, or the second?
“Probably looking up at that scoreboard,” Weiller said, “and seeing nine runs in the ninth.”