Edited by Chris Graham
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#1 Virginia finished off a three-game series sweep of Duke Sunday afternoon with a 10-6 victory over the Blue Devils at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. Virginia won its 10th-consecutive game while pushing its ACC win streak to six.
Virginia (39-9, 18-6 ACC), after taking all three games from Maryland last week, has swept back-to-back ACC road series for the first time since sweeping Duke (April 2-4) and Maryland (April 16-18) in 2004. It was Virginia’s first back-to-back ACC sweeps since doing so in home series versus Boston College (March 21-23) and Virginia Tech (March 28-30) in 2008
Virginia concluded an impressive offensive series by pounding out 16 hits Sunday, including seven doubles. The Cavaliers scored in double figures and had at least 16 hits in each of the three games, finishing with 33 runs and 49 hits in the series. It marked the first time Virginia has scored in double figures of all three games of an ACC series since the league went to the three-game series format in 1990.
Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.), Tyler Cannon (Sr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) and Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) each picked up three hits for Virginia, while Kenny Swab (Jr.., Kernersville, N.C.) had two hits and four RBI.
Virginia’s Tyler Wilson (Jr., Midlothian, Va.) tossed 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win and improve to 5-2 this season. UVa starting pitcher Cody Winiarski (Jr., Franksville, Wis.) was solid for four innings before getting into trouble in the fifth inning. He worked 4.2 innings, giving up three earned runs, five hits and no walks while striking out three.
Duke starter Eric Pfisterer (3-5) worked five innings and pitched to the first two batters of the sixth inning. He allowed six earned runs, nine hits and two walks while striking out one.
For the third straight game, Duke (25-21, 7-17) jumped out first. Winiarski hit two batters in the first inning, and Will Currier scored the first batter, Dennis O’Grady, with a double to left-center. The second, Jeremy Gould, was thrown out at the plate on a perfectly executed relay from center fielder Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) to Cannon to catcher John Hicks (So., Sandy Hook, Va.).
Pfisterer retired nine of the first 10 Cavalier batters before Virginia struck for a pair of runs in the fourth inning. Cannon led off with a single and one out later Proscia singled as well. After Parker hit a fly ball to center, Hicks came through with a two-out single to right-center to plate Cannon and knot the score at one. John Barr (Jr., Ivyland, Pa.) and Swab then drew back-to-back walks to force in a run and give UVa a 2-1 lead.
Virginia added on to its lead with two runs in the fifth. Gosselin led off with a single and advanced to third when Cannon doubled to left. One out later Proscia singled over the drawn-in infield into left-center field to plate Gosselin, and Parker followed with an RBI groundout to increase the lead to three, 4-1.
Duke came back with two runs of its own in the fifth inning on a two-out, two-run single by O’Grady, but the Cavaliers answered with two in the sixth inning on a run-scoring single by Swab and an RBI double by Gosselin to get the lead back to three, 6-3.
The Cavaliers used a trio of doubles to score three runs in the seventh and double their lead. Proscia led off with a double high off the center-field wall. One out later, Hicks walked and Barr followed with his second double in as many innings. Swab then doubled into the right-field corner to plate Hicks and Barr and stretch the lead to 9-3.
Cannon led off the eighth inning with an opposite-field home run that caromed off the Durham Bull sign atop the Blue Monster in left field. It marked Cannon’s third homer of the season.
The Blue Devils got two runs back in the eighth on a Marcus Stroman two-run homer and then added a run in the ninth on a Ryan McCurdy RBI double.
The Cavaliers play their final game before a nine-day exam break at 6 p.m. Tuesday when they entertain VCU at Davenport Field.
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