The No. 12 Virginia baseball team earned a 7-2 victory over Liberty Wednesday evening at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers (15-1) capped their 14-game homestand with a 13-1 record before heading off to Clemson this weekend for a three-game ACC series.
Freshman right-hander Trey Oest (Dover, Fla.) earned the win and improved to 3-0 after pitching five strong innings. After giving up a run in each of the first two innings, he settled down and retired the final 11 batters he faced. Oest allowed two earned runs, four hits and a walk while striking out three.
The Cavaliers’ bullpen was solid. Austin Young (Jr., Mechanicsburg, Va.), David Rosenberger (Fr., Bethlethem, Pa.) and Josh Sborz (Fr., McLean, Va.) combined to pitch the final four innings, shutting the Flames out on just three hits.
Virginia finished with eight hits and drew 11 walks off the Liberty pitching staff. Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and two runs scored. Kenny Towns (So., Burke, Va.) had a pair of hits, while Brandon Downes (So., South Plainfield, N.J.) hit a two-run triple in the first inning.
Willi Martin (1-1) took the loss for Liberty (11-6), which used seven pitchers in the contest. He started for the Flames and failed to retire any of the three batters he faced, walking all three on a combined 14 pitches.
After Liberty scored with two outs in the first inning on a Trey Wimmer RBI single, Virginia sent eight batters to the plate in scoring four times in its half of the first. Martin and reliever Kyle McKelvey combined to walk five batters, and UVa made them pay. Martin walked the bases loaded, and McKelvey promptly fired a wild pitch to allow Branden Cogswell (So., Ballston Lake, N.Y.) to score. Downes then cranked a triple to deep right-center field to score a pair of runs, and he scored on another wild pitch.
The Flames cut a run from the lead in the second inning when Danny Grauer hit a leadoff double and scored on a Nick Lacik sacrifice fly.
Virginia added a run in the fifth inning as McCarthy hit a two-out single, stole second and scored when Towns blooped a single into right-center.
UVa pitchers retired 14 straight batters from the second inning until Nick Paxton doubled to lead off the seventh. On the ensuing play Grauer flied out to center field, with Paxton tagging and moving to third. Virginia appealed to second on the play and after a conference by the umpires, Paxton was ruled out for leaving the base early.
UVa scored two final runs in its half of the seventh inning. McCarthy led off with a walk and Reed Gragnani (Sr., Richmond, Va.) singled with two outs. Nate Irving (Sr., Yonkers, N.Y.) lofted a high fly ball into left field, but Lacik lost it in the lights and the ball dropped for a double, allowing both runners to score.
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