Baseball: No. 2 UVA picks up first win of season over Villanova, 3-1

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

On the second day of the Puerto Rico Challenge, the No. 2 Virginia Baseball team prevailed 3-1 over the Villanova Wildcats on Saturday at Estadio Francisco Montaner in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

In his UVA debut, Drew Koenen picked up the win for the Cavaliers and Matt Lanzendorfer grabbed his first save in a Virginia uniform after securing the Cavalier victory. Virginia starting pitcher Bryson Moore struck out a career-high six batters in 5.2 innings of one-run ball but did not factor into the decision.

Freshman James Nunnallee led the Virginia attack on Saturday night by going 3 for 4 with an RBI and two runs scored. At the top of the lineup, Eric Becker and Henry Godbout each had two-hit performances while Godbout also drove in a pair of runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

To open the contest, Moore retired the first 10 batters he faced in order before allowing back-to-back one-out walks in the fourth inning. The sophomore got out of the jam with a double-play ball to keep the game scoreless.

After Moore sat down the side in order during the top of the fifth, Nunnallee jumped started the Virginia offense with a leadoff double in the bottom of the frame. He scored two batters later on an RBI single to the left-center gap by Godbout to put UVA up 1-0.

An inning later, Koenen relieved Moore with two runners on and two away in the frame. Koenen limited the damage to a run and a tied game after Villanova’s Jason Neff overran first base on an RBI single and was tagged out.

Virginia (1-1) took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of two-out RBI singles from Nunnallee and Godbout that made it a 3-1 Virginia game.

Lanzendorfer entered the contest with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth and got a groundball to end the inning before throwing a scoreless ninth to seal the win.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Chris Arroyo made this Virginia pitching debut in the seventh inning. The junior tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless one-hit ball with a pair of strikeouts.
• With the win, Virginia moves to 5-2 all-time against Villanova (1-1) and the Cavaliers have won four-straight over the Wildcats dating back to 2019.

UP NEXT

Virginia will close out the Puerto Rico Challenge on Sunday with a 4 p.m. ET first pitch against Rice. Tomas Valincius is set to make his collegiate debut on the mound against the Owls’  J.D. McCracken.