O’Connor Reaches Milestone In Series-Clinching Win Over Hokies

Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations

Virginia recorded its fifth-straight win and clinched its ACC road series against Virginia Tech with a 5-3 victory on Friday at English Field in Blacksburg. Cavalier head coach Brian O’Connor notched career win No. 700 in the process.

O’Connor is the ninth coach in the history of ACC baseball to win 700 or more games. He’s ranked fourth among active DI coaches with a .710 winning percentage.

Virginia (32-21, 14-15 ACC) produced its second come-from-behind win in as many days against the Hokies (25-27, 8-21) thanks to a four-run seventh inning rally. Trailing 2-0, Virginia sent nine batters to the plate and plated four runs on four hits. The go-ahead hit came off the bat of sophomore Brendan Rivoli who doubled over the head of the Hokie right fielder, bringing in two runs.

Freshman Zack Gelof capped the four-run outburst and made the score, 5-2 with a sacrifice fly that scored Nic Kent.

Rivoli has six RBIs in the series and now has driven in a run in each of his last six games played. He owns the teams longest active hit streak, hitting safely in a career-long, 11-consecutive games.

Making his second start of the season on the mound, senior Chesdin Harrington pitched into the eighth inning, finishing with a career-high seven innings pitched. From the fourth to the seventh innings, the right-hander sat down, 11-straight Virginia Tech hitters. He finished with four strikeouts and was credited with his team-leading fifth win of the season.

Sophomore Devin Oritz took over for Harrington in the eighth after a lead-off double. The righthander sat down all three batters he faced and struck out a pair of batters. Left-hander Andrew Abbott earned his second save of the series and third of the season despite allowing a run in the bottom of the ninth. Ortiz has not allowed an earned run in six-straight appearances, a total of 15.2 innings.

Sophomore Tanner Morris and senior Cameron Simmons each put forth multi-hit efforts. Morris was 2 for 4 and in the top of the sixth, cracked his ACC-leading 21st double of the season. He’s the eighth Cavalier to compile 21 or more doubles in a season and two shy of matching the school record.

The Cavaliers will go for the sweep on Saturday with righthander Mike Vasil on the mound. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. and will air live on ACC Network Extra.

Additional Notes

• Virginia has won four-straight series against Virginia Tech and nine of the last 11 games.
• The Cavaliers tallied 10 hits, the fifth-straight game with 10+ hits. Eight of the nine batters in the lineup were credited with a base knock.
• It marked the second time, O’Connor has recorded a milestone victory against the Hokies. He won his 200th game of his career against Virginia Tech on March 30, 2008, a 2-1 win in Charlottesville.
• Virginia stole three bases in the contest (Rivoli, Cayman Richardson and Logan Michaels. Virginia has swiped three or more bags in each of the last five games and improve to 11-0 when stealing three or more basesin a game.
• Kent laid down a sacrifice bunt in the top of the first inning, his ACC-leading 11th sacrifice of the season. He was 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI in the contest, extending his hit streak to 10 games and his reached base streak to 13 games.