No. 11 Virginia pulls away in late innings to earn fifth straight win

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

No. 11 Virginia (32-10) scored 10 runs over its last five turns at the plate in a 17-7 win over George Mason (14-25) on Wednesday at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers have won the first five games of their 14-game homestand.

Sophomore Jake Gelof hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot with two outs in fourth inning to give UVA an 8-6 advantage. The home run tied Jarrett Parker (2009) and Joe Koshansky (2004) For the third most in a single season in UVA history. Gelof was a triple short of his second cycle of the season and went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI on the day.

Virginia’s seven, eight and nine hitters – Ethan Anderson, Casey Saucke and Max Cotier each had four RBI in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• George Mason took the lead twice in the contest, 1-0 after the top of the first and 6-3 after the top of the third. UVA responded by tying the game in the first and took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the third inning.

• Gelof knotted the game in the bottom of the first with a single into center field that allowed Griff O’Ferrall to score.

• George Mason scored five runs in its half of the third inning, the fifth time a Virginia opponent has scored five or more runs against UVA. UVA had been 0-4 when an opponent posted a five-spot until tonight.

• The Cavaliers went ahead 7-6 on a two-RBI single from Cotier in the third and didn’t trail from that point forward.

• The Cavaliers blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run rally. After the first five batters reached and Anderson drew a bases loaded walk to drive in the second run of the inning, Saucke drove in a pair on a single through the left side.

• Righthander Alex Greene earned his first career win after taking over in the third and pitching the next 2.1 innings. He allowed only an unearned run to score in his seventh appearance of the season.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“I told our team I was really proud. They (George Mason) took the lead in the third inning and we bounced back with a really good patient, opportunistic offensive approach in the bottom of the third and fourth innings. Certainly, a great offensive night by a number of guys, Ethan Anderson was really locked in, Max Cotier in back-to-back games I thought he had a great approach and a lot of guys did. We came into the game knowing that we were going to chop the game up from a pitching staff standpoint wanting to get a lot of guys work out there, which they did. And most all of them did a nice job and we’ll be ready to go for the weekend.”

UP NEXT: The Cavaliers will resume Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend with a three-game series against No. 7 Virginia Tech. The series opener is scheduled for Friday (April 29) at 6 p.m. Prior to Saturday’s middle game, the Virginia baseball program will retire No. 11 in honor of Ryan Zimmerman in a pregame ceremony. Gates will open at 2:30 with ceremonies scheduled to begin at 3:30 and first pitch of the contest slated for 4 p.m. The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Alex Tappen played in his 202nd career game, tying Jared King for the 10th most in UVA history. He has reached base in a team-best 12-straight games.

• The meeting was the first between Virginia and George Mason since 2010. The Cavaliers have won six-straight games against the Patriots, all coming in the Brian O’Connor era (2004-present).

• Anderson went 4-for-4 with four runs scored and four RBI on the night, all season-highs.

• Saucke’s was 3-for-4 at the plate and his four RBI were the most since driving in three against Cornell on Feb. 25.