Virginia blanks Syracuse behind Houge’s complete game

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Mikayla Houge went the distance for her first complete-game shutout, helping lead Virginia to a 6-0 victory over Syracuse at Palmer Park on Saturday.

Houge (5-9) scattered four hits and struck out three across the 7.0 innings of work. She faced three over the minimum in her outing.

Kaia Oliver (7-7) suffered the loss for the Orange (17-16, 10-13 ACC) as she allowed the one run on three hits with three walks and a strikeout in 4.0 innings of work.

Virginia (15-28, 10-22 ACC) got on the board in the first, executing a double steal with Arizona Ritchie (Stafford, Va.) sliding in safely at the plate after Katie Goldberg (Atlanta, Ga.) eluded the tag to reach second safely.

The Cavaliers then broke things open in the fifth inning, getting a pair of RBI singles from Goldberg and Rachel Keshin (New Canaan, Conn.) around an RBI double from Donna Friedman (Orange, Calif.). Virginia added two more runs in the sixth, including a solo home run from Mikaila Fox (Ocean Springs, Miss.).