This is exactly how Jay Woolfolk envisioned himself contributing in his junior season at Virginia. As a starter. In the most critical of contests, having to make pitch after pitch in a low-scoring, high-stakes bout.
“When you give young men an opportunity like Jay Woolfolk had tonight, you see what they’re made of,” UVa coach Brian O’Connor said. The right-hander and Richmond native who’d been moved out of the rotation and back to the bullpen in March, returned to a starting role for Sunday night’s Charlottesville Regional final and delivered with eight innings of two-run ball and seven strikeouts in the top-seeded Cavaliers’ 9-2 win over No. 2-seed Mississippi State to send the Hoos to a Super Regional for the ninth time in program history.
“It was everything that a pitcher would want to come out and do as a starter in a regional,” Woolfolk, the Charlottesville Regional Most Outstanding Player, said. People are also reading..
. UVa (44-15) broke the game open in its final turn at the plate in the ninth with six runs. Luke Hanson’s two-run single grew the Cavaliers’ lead to 5-2 and Griff O’Ferrall’s bunt single, which was misplayed by the Bulldogs (40-23), let the Hoos add two more runs.
They scored another pair on wild pitches. They’ll welcome Kansas State to town for the Charlottesville Super Regional next week as the No. 12-overall seed, too, because fifth-seeded Arkansas was upset by Southeast Missouri State in a loser’s bracket game at the Fa.
