Virginia Baseball Walks Off Maryland 7-6 in Fredericksburg

On June 6th, 2015, Ernie Clement delivered a walk-off two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to lift Virginia past Maryland and book a ticket to Omaha, where the Hoos went on to win their first-ever national title. Almost 10 years after that last meeting between these border state rivals, Virginia and Maryland finally met on the baseball field again and the result was a familiar walk-off victory for the Cavaliers.

After squandering a three-run lead in the top of the ninth, Henry Godbout hit a leadoff single and maneuvered around the bases with some small ball before finally scoring the game-winning run on a wild pitch, giving Virginia (10-5) a walk-off 7-6 victory over Maryland (8-8) on Tuesday evening at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, home of the Fredericksburg Nationals, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

This game was a pitchers' duel in its early stages, with each team scoring just one run through the first five innings. Bradley Hodges made his season debut after missing almost the entirety of the 2024 season with Tommy John surgery. Hodges retired the side in order in the first and then struck out the side in the second. He walked the first batter of the third inning and was pulled for Alex Markus, who gave up an RBI triple to Elijah Lambros to give the Terrapins the lead.

After stranding runners on base in each of the first three innings, Virginia evened the score in the bottom of the fourth as Harrison Didawick came home while James Nunnallee was caught in a rundown.

Maryland reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs on a Jacob Orr sacrifice fly and a Hollis Porter RBI single off of Blake Barker to make it 3-1 Maryland. Virginia came up with an immediate answer in the bottom half of the sixth, as Aidan Teel and Harrison Didawick drew walks and then executed a double-steal to move themselves into scoring position. A Maryland fielding error brought Teel home and then Eric Becker hit a single to center to score Didawick and freshman Trey Wells, who got the start at catcher for Virginia. That gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the game at 4-3.