The No. 18 Virginia baseball team won its second straight conference series, with two wins in three games against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers (15-6, 4-2 ACC) swept the Demon Deacons (13-9, 2-4 ACC) Friday before dropping the series finale Saturday.
Junior pitcher Connor Jones and two relievers combined for a 4-0 shutout victory in the series opener. Jones worked 7.1 innings allowing six hits, walking two and striking out nine.
Wake Forest out-hit Virginia, but the Demon Deacons left 10 runners on base.
Sophomore outfielder Adam Haseley led the Cavaliers with three hits and one run scored.
Junior shortstop Daniel Pinero began the scoring in the second inning. He led with a double, advanced on a sacrifice fly and came home on a bunt by freshman designated hitter Nate Eikhoff.
The Cavaliers tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning and one more in the fifth to build a 4-0 lead.
From there, Virginia’s pitching took over. After Jones left with one out in the eighth, senior pitcher Kevin Doherty recorded two outs before turning the ball over to junior Alec Bettinger, who pitched a hitless ninth inning to seal the win.
The second game of the doubleheader was a back-and-forth affair. Wake Forest took a brief lead with a three-run fourth inning, but Virginia responded with three of its own in the bottom of the frame.
In that inning, Haseley hit a run-scoring triple and scored on a double by sophomore second baseman Ernie Clement.
Haseley, the Windermere, Fla. native, recorded two triples, three doubles and two singles while scoring four runs and driving home a man in two games.
Senior starter David Rosenberger allowed four runs, four earned, on four hits over five innings. Rosenberger struck out six batters and walked one.
Junior right hander Tyler Shambora took over and pitched the final four innings, surrendering one hit and striking out four, as Virginia won, 6-4.
The Demon Deacons frustrated Virginia’s hope of securing a series sweep with a 9-8 victory Saturday.
Wake Forest led the Cavaliers 8-3 heading into the seventh inning, but Virginia scored three times in the seventh and twice in the eighth to tie the game.
Sophomore Tommy Doyle started on the mound for the Cavaliers, and yielded eight runs — seven of which were earned — on six hits over five innings.
First, Freshmen Cameron Simmons and Andy Weber led off the seventh with back-to-back base hits. Then, Haseley then singled home Weber. After that, Junior catcher Matt Thaiss lined out to score Weber. Finally, Sophomore first baseman Pavin Smith tripled to score Haseley.
Smith finished the day batting three-for-four with two runs driven in.
Doherty scored on a wild pitch in the eighth inning to tie the game at 8-8, but Wake Forest responded with one run in the ninth inning to go ahead. The run came against Bettinger, who picked up his third loss of the year.
Virginia hosts James Madison Tuesday before a road series with Louisville March 25-27.
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