LAKE MONTICELLO, Va. (Interstat) — In a tense, back-and-forth midweek clash defined by dominant relief pitching and critical errors, the Virginia Cavaliers rallied from an early four-run deficit to edge the Liberty Flames 5-4 on Wednesday evening at Davenport Field.

The victory improved Virginia’s season record to 29-13, while Liberty fell to 29-12. The result avenged a 14-12 loss the Cavaliers suffered to the Flames in Lynchburg just over a month prior.

The most important part of the game unfolded in the bottom of the sixth inning, with Virginia trailing 4-3. Liberty reliever Jake Potts, who had escaped further damage in the fifth, issued a two-out walk to Jackson, who then stole second. Holmes then reached on a critical fielding error by Liberty’s Marsh, allowing Jackson to take third. Holmes promptly stole second, putting two runners in scoring position. That set the stage for Murray, who delivered the decisive blow with a two-run single to right center, scoring both Jackson and Holmes to give Virginia its first lead at 5-4. Both runs were unearned, capitalizing on Liberty’s second error of the game.

Liberty had built its early advantage by striking for three runs in the top of the fourth against Virginia reliever Kevin Jaxel. After a single and a stolen base by DeCandido, Barone drove him in with an RBI single. Swofford followed with a ground-rule double, and both runners came home when Drumm reached on a throwing error by Virginia third baseman Murray, making it 4-0.

Virginia began chipping away in the bottom half of the inning against Liberty starter Josh Swink. Jake Weatherspoon launched a solo home run, his third of the season, to deep left field to put the Cavaliers on the board. Swink was otherwise brilliant, working four innings and allowing just that one hit and one earned run while striking out five.

The Cavaliers added two more in the fifth, again aided by a Liberty miscue. After a single and a balk placed Holmes on second, a throwing error by Potts on a sacrifice bunt attempt allowed Holmes to score. Later in the frame, a Perrotta groundout brought home Murray, who had reached on the error, cutting the deficit to 4-3 and setting the stage for the sixth-inning comeback.

From there, the Virginia bullpen slammed the door. Following Jaxel’s shaky 1 1/3 innings, Thomas Stewart, Lucas Hartman and Tyler Kapa combined for 4 1/3 perfect innings of relief. They retired all 13 batters they faced, with Kapa striking out the side in the ninth to seal the win. Max Stammel earned the top star designation for Virginia with an effective start, going 3 2/3 innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out five, a bounce-back performance after two difficult recent outings.

For Liberty, Tyler August and Jake Potts provided solid relief behind Swink, but the two errors and a key balk proved costly. The Flames managed seven hits but could not solve the Cavaliers’ late-inning relievers after taking the early lead.

The game was a departure from the preseason projections. Interstat’s game simulator had projected a Liberty victory with a final score of 8-4, while its ELO system gave Virginia a 69.4 percent probability to win.

Liberty returns home to begin a three-game series with Delaware on Friday. Virginia opens Atlantic Coast Conference road play with a three-game set at Pittsburgh, also beginning Friday.