Virginia clicking on all cylinders in series opener against Cornell

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia (5-0) scored in all but one turn at the plate in a 24-9 victory over Cornell (0-1) on Friday at Disharoon Park. The home series with the Big Red will continue on Saturday at noon on ACCNX.

The Cavalier pitching staff struck out 23 batters, one shy of the school record set in last year’s NCAA Regional against ODU. The 24 runs by Virginia on the day were the most since posting 27 against Maryland in 2010.

Virginia trailed 2-0 after the first inning but went on to score a combined 10 runs in the first three innings. After Cornell plated four runs in the fifth, Virginia responded with seven in the bottom half to open up a 17-7 advantage.

STANDOUT PERFORMERS

• Sophomore Jake Gelof hit a pair of three-run home runs in the contest, one in the first inning and another in the second inning. The long balls were his team-leading third and fourth of the season. He added an RBI on a sac fly in the third inning and finished the game with eight RBI, the most by a UVA hitter since Kenny Towns drove in eight against East Carolina on Feb. 15, 2013.
• Gelof became UVA’s first multi-homer performer since his brother Zack hit a pair against NC State on March 8, 2020.
• Virginia starting pitcher Nate Savino struck out the final eight batters he faced and racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts in his first win of the season.
• Kyle Teel walked five times in the contest, tying Phil Gosselin’s single-game school record set back on March 17, 2010 against James Madison.
• Sophomore Jake Berry pitched the sixth, seventh and eighth innings and fanned a career-high seven batters. He allowed one hit and did not walk a batter in his three innings of work.
• Freshman Casey Saucke recorded the team’s first triple of the year in the eighth inning. He finished the day 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a pair of walks.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“First, I know it’s tough what Cornell’s doing. It’s their first game of the year then you know they haven’t played a game in almost two years, so that’s a tough task. Our guys did a nice job of being disciplined. Obviously, we took some aggressive swings and executed with runners in scoring position. I was proud that they were opportunistic and drew walks and then got a number of big hits. Overall, I was happy with the way we swung the bats. Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully we can come out and play some baseball again.”

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• As a team, the Cavaliers drew 17 walks, the most in a game since 2000.
• 10 different Cavaliers were responsible for the team’s season-high, 18 hits. Virginia has 10 or more hits in each of the last three games.
• Freshman Justin Rubin recorded his first collegiate hit with a pinch-hit, RBI double in the sixth inning.
• First year Matthew Buchanan made his collegiate debut coming on as a pinch-hitter in the top of the ninth inning.
• The Cavaliers are 5-0 for the first time since 2017 and are unbeaten through the first five for the eighth time Brian O’Connor’s tenure (2004-present).
• Virginia has now won 13-straight games against Cornell, a streak that started in 1923.