Virginia Clinches Series With 12-6 Win Over Louisville

Courtesy UVA Sports Media Relations

Virginia scored 11 runs in its first two trips to the plate en route to a 12-6 series-clinching victory over No. 5 Louisville at Disharoon Park on Saturday. The victory secured a spot in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship for the Cavaliers.

Virginia (29-21, 12-15 ACC) plated seven runs in the first inning, its biggest single-inning outburst of the season to erase an early 1-0 deficit. The Cavaliers followed up with four more runs in the bottom of the second to open up an 11-2 advantage after two innings.

The Cavaliers totaled 29 runs in three games against the Cardinals (40-12, 19-8), who came into the series with the lowest ERA in the ACC. The 29 runs are the most in any three-game series for Virginia this season. The Cavaliers have now won back-to-back series against the Cardinals after dropping the previous three.

Freshman Nic Kent led the way offensively with a four-hit afternoon. He finished 4 for 4 with a double, two RBI and his 13th stolen base. He upped his RBI total to a team-best, 39. He was busy at second base totaling eight assists, the most by a Cavalier in a game since 2017.

Junior Cayman Richardson continued his torrent hitting in league play, with a 3 for 4, three-run, two RBI afternoon. He was 6 for 10 with five runs scored in the three-game set against the Cardinals. He’s batting .329 against ACC opponents with 28 hits in 85 at bats.

Sophomore Tanner Morris set the tone for the Cavaliers at the top of the lineup and put forth his second-straight three-hit performance. All three of his hits came in the first two innings, including two in the big first frame. He has now reached base safely in 10-straight games.

Making his first start of the season and first since April 4, 2017, Chesdin Harrington turned in one of his best performances of his career, all in his final regular season appearance at Disharoon Park. The senior logged a career-high six innings, eclipsing a previous mark of five set two weeks ago at North Carolina. He struck out six batters and retired eight of the last 10 batters he faced.

Harrington was credited with his fourth win of the season, moving him into a tie for the team lead.

The bullpen duo of Devin Ortiz and Andrew Abbott combined to pitch three scoreless innings to close out the win. Ortiz hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 12 innings pitched. Abbott worked a perfect ninth, fanning two of the three batters he faced and finished the series with six strikeouts in three total innings pitched.

The Cavaliers will close out their home schedule on Tuesday when they host VCU at 6 p.m.

Additional Notes

• In the big first inning, Virginia sent 12 batters to the plate, collected seven hits and capitalized on four Louisville errors. All but one of the seven first-inning runs went unearned.
• It marked the 14th time Virginia has scored five or more runs in an inning
• The ACC series victory is the third for the Cavaliers this season (Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville)
• Virginia improves to 3-5 against nationally ranked opponents
• The Cavaliers have scored 11 or more runs, six times against ACC opponents
• Kent has hit safely in a season-best, seven straight games.
• Eight of the nine Virginia starters collected a hit in the contest and the 16 total hits matched a single-game high in conference play.
• Saturday’s victory was career win No. 697 for head coach Brian O’Connor.
• The four Louisville fielding errors were a season-high for a club who came in as the second best fielding team in the league (.980).