Top-ranked Virginia baseball won all three round-robin games at the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Cavaliers (10-0) downed Hartford 5-1, Seton Hall 4-1 and Cornell 5-4.
Junior Nathan Kirby pitched Virginia to victory in Friday’s contest against the Hawks (3-3). The southpaw threw six shutout innings and fanned ten. Kirby now has three wins in three starts.
The offense wasted no time in putting runs on the board, scoring three in the opening frame. Freshman Ernie Clement led off with a triple and scored on a single by freshman Adam Haseley. Sophomore Matt Thaiss capped off the scoring with a two-run homer.
Virginia tacked on an insurance run in both the third and fifth innings. Sophomore Alec Bettinger pitched the final three innings for the first save of his career.
A trio of Cavalier pitchers held the Pirates (1-5) to five hits in the second game of the weekend. Sophomore Connor Jones started and worked five innings. Seton Hall tagged him for one run on three hits and five walks.
At the plate, Virginia matched a season high of 13 hits. Three Cavaliers — junior John La Prise, Smith and Thaiss — recorded three hits apiece. However, the team struggled to bring runners home, stranding 11 — six in scoring position.
Thaiss broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with a solo shot — his team-leading fourth. Senior Kenny Towns and Thaiss both drove in a run in the sixth to help Virginia pull away.
Junior Josh Sborz closed out the game with two shutout innings. Seton Hall did load the bases with only one out in the eighth, but Sborz was able to escape the jam without any damage.
For the second Sunday in a row, the Cavaliers required late-game magic to escape with the victory.
The Big Red (1-5) jumped out to a two-run lead and held it until the eighth inning. Junior Brandon Waddell lasted only four innings and surrendered one run on three hits and two walks while striking out four.
Virginia hung four on the board to take the lead in the eighth. Smith broke the shutout with a one-out double that drove home Clement. Sophomore Daniel Pinero singled home Smith, and freshman Christian Lowry — last Sunday’s hero — brought home Towns and Pinero.
But Cornell responded with two in the top half of the ninth. Sophomore Jaime Smith sent a Sborz delivery over the right field wall for a game-tying two-run homer.
The Cavaliers loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth. Senior Thomas Woodruff walked, freshman Charlie Cody reached on a sacrifice bunt which the defense misplayed, and Clement singled on a clean bunt. With no outs, Haseley lifted a fly ball into center which allowed Woodruff to tag up and score the game-winning run.
Virginia will return to action Tuesday afternoon against VMI. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
—compiled by Matthew Wurzburger
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