Virginia Baseball Beats Penn 4-2 to Open Charlottesville Regional

Behind solid pitching performances from Joe Savino and Chase Hungate and an early three-run home run from Henry Godbout, No. 12 Virginia (42-15) opened the Charlottesville Regional at the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament with a 4-2 victory over Penn (24-24) on Friday afternoon at Disharoon Park.

It was a quiet day for the nation's third-ranked scoring offense, with the lone explosive moment of the game coming in the bottom of the second, when Henry Godbout crushed a ball 364 feet into the left field bleachers for a three-run home run.

! ! ! !

Hoos lead, 3-0!

: ESPN+ | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/Uu9MC8rnbl

The UVA offense, which didn't come close to matching its season-long average of 9.7 runs scored per game, was largely held in check by Penn ace Cole Zaffiro. Virginia had only four hits, left 10 runners on base, and Griff O'Ferrall was the only Cavalier with multiple hits.

Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they got a great combination of pitching performances from Joe Savino and Chase Hungate. Savino was perfect through the first three innings, but then ran into trouble in the fourth as Connor Chavez hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored on a double down the left field line from Davis Baker. Nick Spaventa then scored Baker with an RBI single to make it 3-2. Other than that one blemish, Savino was excellent, allowing just the two earned runs on three hits and striking out eight batters in 5.2 innings of work.

See score updates for every game in the regional round of the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament here.

Chase Hungate was even better, allowing just one baserunner in 3.1 innings of work, retiring 10 of the 11 batters he faced and posting three strikeouts along the way as he deservedly earned the save.

Read live updates from Virginia's win over Penn here.

Virginia had multiple opportunities to extend its lead in the middle of the game, but stranded the bases loaded in the fourth, left runners on first and second in the fifth, and then squandered a golden opportunity with runners on first and second with no outs in the sixth. The Cavaliers finally cashed in on one of those opportunities in the seventh inning, as Griff O'Ferrall hit a leadoff single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI double from Ethan Anderson to give UVA a crucial insurance run.

Chase Hungate did the rest, shutting the door on the Quakers as Virginia opened the regional with a, perhaps closer than expected, but no less important 4-2 win over Penn.

With the win, the Cavaliers put themselves in the winner's bracket game of the Charlottesville Regional, where they'll face Mississippi State on Saturday at 6pm at Disharoon Park.

See the updated bracket/schedule for the Charlottesville Regional below:
Friday, May 31
Game 1 | Penn 2, No. 12 Virginia 4
Game 2 | St. John's 2, Mississippi State 5 (10 inn.)
Saturday, June 1
Game 3 | 12pm | Penn (0-1) vs. St. John's (0-1)
Game 4 | 6pm | Virginia (1-0) vs. Mississippi State (1-0)
Sunday, June 2
Game 5 | 12pm | Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4
Game 6 | 6pm | Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5
Monday, June 3
Game 7 | if necessary

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 and has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021. 

Follow mattynewtss