Virginia defeats George Washington, 10-2, to move to 12-0 on the season

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

Virginia (12-0) concluded its nine-game homestand with a 10-2 victory over George Washington (3-7) on Tuesday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers have scored 10 or more runs in each of last nine contests and are unbeaten through the first 12 games for third time in program history.

The Cavaliers trailed briefly after the Colonials plated two runs in the top of the third, but Virginia erupted for five runs in the bottom half to take the lead for good. It marked only the third time UVA has trailed this season. On all three occasions UVA has either tied or taken the lead in the bottom half of the same inning.

First years Ethan Anderson, Griff O’Ferrall and Casey Saucke were responsible for six of the eight Cavalier hits in the contest. O’Ferrall has seven hits in his last two games after a 3-for-5 effort at the plate on Tuesday and Anderson launched his third homer in the last five games.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cavaliers scored the first run of the game on a bases loaded walk drawn by Chris Newellin the bottom of the first. The free pass was one of three issued to Newell on the day, matching a career-high. UVA has scored a run in the first inning in seven of its first 12 games.
• The five-run third inning saw 10 Cavaliers come to the plate. The inning was highlighted by RBI singles from Alex Tappen, Saucke and O’Ferrall. Saucke drove in two on a single up the middle and finished 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI.
• Anderson made the score 8-2 with a two-run homer to right field, his third of the season.
• The Cavaliers used a season-high, seven pitchers in the contest. The final five hurlers – Jay Woolfolk, Jacob Hodorovich, Devin Ortiz, Dylan Bowers and Will Geerdes – combined for five shutout innings and seven strikeouts. Virginia fanned a total of 12 batters, the 10th time this season UVA has struck out 10 or more batters in a game.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“We’ve done everything that we could do in these first 12 games. Obviously we won all of them but I think we’ve gotten better. We’ve proven to ourselves in some areas where there was uncertainty. How good of infield defense were we going to play and what was our starting pitching going to be like and things like that. I think we’ve proven to ourselves what we can in these first 12 games, now it’s league play. It’s the most important games and we’re going to certainly have to be at our best to win in this league.”

UP NEXT: The Cavaliers will begin Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Duke. The series opener on Friday (March 11) is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start on ACCNX. Saturday’s middle game will be broadcast live on ACC Network at 4 p.m. The series will conclude on Sunday at Durham Bulls Athletic Park with a 1 p.m. first pitch.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Virginia has won 13-straight games against George Washington and improve to 17-1 against the Colonials under O’Connor.
• The Cavaliers went 9-0 on the homestand and dating back to last season have won 12-straight at Disharoon Park.
• Virginia went 19-0 to start the 2009 season and 14-0 to begin the 2013 season, the only other 12-0 starts in program history.
• The Cavaliers extended their program record to nine-straight games with 10 or more runs.
• Jake Berry was credited with win, the first of his career, after taking over in the second inning. He pitched 2.1 innings and struck out three batters.
• Devin Ortiz on O’Ferrall have reached base in all 12 games this season. Ortiz went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI in the contest.
• Saucke extended his hit streak to 10 games with the two-RBI single in the third. He is now hitting a team best, .500 (18-for-36) on the year. The 18 hits are also a club best.