Baseball Falls to Virginia in Opener

Friday, February 14

Pensacola, Fla.

6 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

0-1

Virginia

1-0

Oklahoma

Virginia

Photo by: Nino Mendez

February 14, 2020 | Baseball

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PENSACOLA, Fla. – The No. 19 Oklahoma baseball team dropped its 2020 season opener 6-0 to Virginia Friday evening in the Wahoos Classic at Blue Wahoos Stadium.

The Sooners (0-1) and Cavaliers (1-0) will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., due to rain in the forecast for Sunday. Both games on Saturday will be broadcast on Sportstalk 1400 AM/99.3 FM KREF.

Virginia scored runs in the first and fifth innings and added four in the eighth. Junior first baseman Tyler Hardman and junior catcher Justin Mitchell each singled for OU.

Junior right-hander Cade Cavalli (0-1) struck out eight over 4.2 innings and allowed a pair of runs on four hits and a walk. Four relievers followed, including junior Ledgend Smith who retied both batters he faced, and sophomore Jaret Godman, who tossed 2.0 innings.

"When Cade got into trouble, he reset, gathered his thoughts and went back to just pitching," Oklahoma head coach Skip Johnson said. "That was something he never did last year, and something we've been working on. I think that was a big step forward for him, as much as anything. We have to keep reiterating playing 27 outs and having quality at bats. We had their pitcher on the ropes a couple of times and we just didn't execute some things we needed to execute to tie the game."

Hardman singled to left in the first inning between a pair of two-out walks. The Sooners left the bases loaded in the first, but were only able to put runners in scoring position twice for the remainder of the game. Freshman third baseman Peyton Graham walked, stole second and reached third in the fifth, then Mitchell singled and stole second in the sixth. It was Mitchell's first stolen base since 2018.

Virginia's Griff McGarry (1-0) pitched 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts, a hit and three walks to earn the win. UVA second baseman Max Cotier singled home a run in the first inning, first baseman Devin Ortiz doubled in a run in the fifth and left fielder Mark Lebreux hit a two-run single in the eighth. A wild pitch and a double steal scored the Cavs' other two runs.