Coach Brian O'Connor needed to have a conversation with his left-handed ace.

Andrew Abbott hadn't allowed a hit in seven innings against Wake Forest Friday night and had struck out 15 of the 23 batters he had faced. But Abbott was at 99 pitches and his next turn in the rotation would be coming on shortened rest next Thursday at Boston College.

"I actually went down there after the seventh inning and told him he was done," O'Connor revealed after Virginia's 17-0 win.

Abbott responded with a request.

"I was like, 'Let me go out there,'" he said. "'Let me get one more out, and then you can take me out. I just want to walk and wave to the fans as my goodbye.'"

O'Connor and pitching coach Drew Dickinson acquiesced. Abbott notched one final strikeout, extending his new career high to 16. As O'Connor made his way from the dugout, UVa infielders gathered around Abbott at the mound and started hugging the senior. Teammates came out of the Virginia dugout and bullpen to join the fans at Disharoon Park for a standing ovation.

An emotional Abbott tipped his cap to the crowd as he left the field.

Freshman lefty Jake Berry recorded the final two outs of the eighth inning. Senior Griff McGarry worked around a one-out walk to strike out the side in the ninth. The three pitchers had combined for the seventh no-hitter in Virginia baseball history.

"Being able to close that out for Andrew, definitely a very emotion-filled moment," McGarry said afterward. "We've been roommates the past three years, and I'm glad I was able to do that and help him achieve such a big thing."

As he was hitting his spots in the bullpen while warming up before the game, Abbott had a sense that it could be a good night. He worked around a two-out walk to strike out the side in the first inning then he struck out the side in order in the second. By that point, both Abbott and his coach knew he was, as O'Connor put it, "on his really, really good stuff” last night.

"His velocity was really good and he was executing his fastball up in the zone with two strikes," O'Connor said. "He's done that all year long, it's been a really, really great pitch for him. But you could see his command of his fastball was very, very elite."

"I was kind of thinking to myself, 'Okay, I've got my good stuff going. They're not picking it up,'" said Abbott. "'So let's just keep it going for as long as I can.'"

Abbott's first eight outs were all strikeouts and by the end of the fourth inning, he had recorded 11. With three more in the fifth, Abbott had matched the career-high he'd already reached twice this season. One more to end the sixth gave him 15, the most for a UVa pitcher since Nathan Kirby struck out 18 in his no-hitter at Pitt on April 4, 2014.

With his 16th strikeout to start the eighth inning, Abbott matched Seth Greisinger's performance against North Carolina on March 23, 1996, the third-highest total all-time for a Virginia pitcher. Harry Thomas set the UVa single-game record for strikeouts with 19 against Clemson on April 26, 1974.

Abbott knew his night was done after that final strikeout. He admitted it was hard to keep back his emotions as he soaked in that final walk off the mound at Disharoon Park.

"Just kind of reminiscing, kind of slowing down the heartbeat," he said. “Saying okay, I'm done. This is it for the Disharoon career. So just taking that breath in, and then seeing the fans, the standing ovation and stuff like that, it's always hard to fight back tears."

As O'Connor watched the scene unfold, he thought back to last June, when Abbott went unselected in the COVID-shortened MLB Draft. The lefty, who spent his first three college seasons pitching primarily out of the bullpen, returned to Virginia determined to prove he could be a starter. Friday's performance improved his record on the season to 6-5 and dropped his ERA to 3.12, with 115 strikeouts in 75 innings.

"He knew he could do it. He told me he could do it, and I knew that he could," O'Connor said."He believed in himself, and he went out there and worked hard and he earned it. So to see him be able to walk off the field like that at home is really, really special.

"You wish there were 5,000 people in the stands, so so many people could enjoy it," the head coach added.

After Berry finished off the Demon Deacons in the eighth, O'Connor gave the ball to McGarry to get the game's final three outs. McGarry began the season slotted right behind Abbott in the weekend rotation but control issues cost him that role. Friday night marked his first appearance since failing to record an out in a start at VCU on April 20.

McGarry came out of the bullpen "just trying to throw it right through (catcher) Kyle Teel." He hit 99 on the radar gun as he struck out Michael Turconi for the first out. After a walk and another strikeout, McGarry went ball-strike-ball-strike on Chris Lanzilli. Before his next pitch, he paused to check the count, and noticed the zero representing the Demon Deacons' hit count.

After a swing and a miss, the celebration ensued.

"It was a rush of emotion, and then my immediate thought was, 'Where's Abbott? Where's Abbott?'" McGarry recalled. "I just wanted to give him a big hug."

Afterward, Abbott credited UVa’s offense for making his life easier with another big Friday night at the plate. The Wahoos got home runs from Brendan Rivoli and Zack Gelof as part of a 14-hit night. In Abbott's last six starts, Virginia has averaged 11 runs; in his first six starts, the Hoos averaged just 2.3 runs.

"It's just a combined team effort," Abbott said. "Obviously we've had a great defense, our pitching has been solid, and our hitting is turning the corner at the right time. It's coming together."

With yesterday’s win, the Cavaliers improved to 23-21 overall and 14-17 in ACC play. It's the first time they've been within three games of .500 in ACC play since sitting at 2-5 in mid-March. UVa has five games left in the regular season, including two more this weekend against Wake Forest.

"To respond like we did tonight was great to see," said O'Connor, whose team is trying to bolster its NCAA Tournament resume over these final two weekends. "Now, when we get up tomorrow morning we've got to turn our attention to Game 2 and we've got to come out and play good baseball again."

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