Teel: Virginia tops Duke behind Griff O’Ferrall, record-setting Jake Gelof

O’Ferrall’s second-pitch rope over the left-field wall foreshadowed day-long production for the Cavaliers in a 14-4 rout of Duke that extends their quest for another CWS trip.

Virginia dropped Game 1 of this best-of-3 NCAA super regional Friday, but reflecting a roster teeming with postseason experience, the threat of elimination didn’t faze Brian O’Connor’s club. Indeed, the moment appeared to galvanize the Cavaliers.

They were confident at bat, aggressive on the bases and, has become routine the past two weekends at Disharoon Park, stout on the mound.

“I thought we played magnificently in every facet of the game,” O’Connor said.

A sequel in Sunday’s decisive Game 3 would send Virginia (49-13) to the CWS in Omaha, Nebraska, for the second time in three years and sixth under O’Connor. Competing in its third super regional since 2018, Duke (39-23) aspires to its first CWS in 62 years.

O’Ferrall’s homer was his first of the season and third in two years as a Cavalier. Moreover, it marked the first time since 2016 (Adam Haseley) that a UVa leadoff hitter started a game with a long ball

What O’Ferrall, a former St. Christopher’s standout, started, Jake Gelof finished.

Earlier this season, Gelof, a junior third baseman, became the Cavaliers’ career home run leader. But he’d been stuck at 180 career RBIs, two shy of the school record, for more than two weeks, an eternity for the first-team All-ACC selection.

Gelof darn near eclipsed Steven Proscia’s standard with a walk-off, three-run homer Friday, only to see Tyler Albright catch his deep drive at the base of the left-field fence to close Duke’s 5-4 victory.

There were no such doubts Saturday.

Gelof equaled the RBI mark with a 2-run double in the sixth inning and broke it with a 442-foot, two-run drive over the left-field bleachers in the eighth. The home run was his program-record 23rd of the season, one more than Brian Buchanan hit in 1994.

In short, with a ferocious upper-cut swing that he rarely tempers, Gelof has hit more homers (48) and driven in more runs (184) than any player in Virginia’s 134-year baseball history.

A former William & Mary commitment, Gelof was far more jazzed about his friends in the stands Saturday than about his records, but the respective coaches paid tribute.

“His name’s going to get called in the first round (of the MLB draft) in a few weeks,” Duke’s Chris Pollard said. “He’s a great player.”

“He’s prepared every day that he shows up at the ballpark,” O’Connor said, adding that he loves Gelof’s “recklessness” at the plate.

But that trait does not apply to Gelof’s or his teammates’ overall approach to the baseball grind. Very little ruffles the Cavaliers, including a Game 1 super regional setback such as Friday’s.

Since the NCAA adopted the best-of-3 super regional format 24 years ago, 79% of teams that won the opener have advanced to the College World Series. Virginia defies that history.

Friday marked the Cavaliers’ fifth Game 1 super regional setback. In three of the previous four, they countered with two consecutive victories to reach Omaha.

Most relevant to this group: Gelof and ACC player of the year Kyle Teel were starters on the 2021 squad that rebounded from a Game 1 loss to Dallas Baptist to win the next two. Moreover, Teel hit the seventh-inning grand slam that propelled Virginia to a 5-2 Game 3 win.

Does that experience fuel UVa’s confidence regarding Sunday, particularly after a four-home run Saturday that matched a season-best and included a three-run shot by Ethan Anderson and solo drive by Anthony Stephan?

“Of course,” the reserved Gelof said.

An additional source of confidence for the Cavaliers: After another gem Saturday from Connelly Early (seven innings, eight strikeouts, no earned runs), their starting pitchers in this tournament have yielded eight runs in 32 innings (2.25 ERA).

Graduate student Brian Edgington, fresh off five perfect innings against Army in last week’s regional, will start Sunday.

“I always believe this time of year the calmer, more poised warrior wins most of the time,” O’Connor said.

Few, if any, Cavaliers fit that bill like Gelof.

“It speaks to the depth of our lineup that we can win games without the guy that’s the home run king delivering for us,” O’Connor said. “That said, it’s going to take everyone tomorrow.”