The No. 12 UVA baseball team trounced La Salle, 18-3, Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field in the finale of UVA’s three-team weekend tournament. UVA (11-1) concluded the busy weekend with a 3-1 record while also finishing off its nine-game homestand.
“This was a good team win today. It was important that our guys responded to the first loss of the season yesterday,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “I feel good about how our guys responded today. Adam Haseley pitched pretty well other than a few walks, but certainly playing 16 innings yesterday on his feet is not an easy task. I was proud of him for going out and battling despite not having his best stuff.”
Virginia starting pitcher Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) worked 6 1/3 innings, giving up two unearned runs, four hits and three walks while fanning four. He earned the win and improved to 2-0 on the year. He also homered and was 2-for-4 with two RBI at the plate.
La Salle starting pitcher Michael Flax (0-2) fired three-plus innings, allowing nine runs (five earned), eight hits and two walks in taking the loss.
Jake McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) and Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) each had three hits for Virginia, which finished with 16 hits on the day. Simmons was 6-for-9 over the four-game weekend series while reaching base in 12 of his 15 plate appearances. McCarthy was 7-for-17 (.412) with three stolen bases during the weekend series.
UVA aggressively sprung to a 4-0 lead in the first inning. The first three Cavaliers reached base. McCarthy legged out a leadoff double and scored on an Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) single. Clement stole second, moved to third on a Haseley infield single and scored on a wild pitch, with Haseley stealing second on the play and moving to third on the errant pitch. Haseley then scored on a Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) groundout.
La Salle (0-11) capitalized on a UVA error to score a pair of unearned runs in the second inning, with a run scoring with two outs on a Justin Novak (Jr., Tokyo, Japan) throwing error. Austin Constantini following with a run-scoring single.
The Cavaliers put up another four-spot in the third, getting big production from the bottom of its order on a two-run double from Novak, the eight-hole hitter, followed by a two-run single from Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio).
Virginia recorded its third four-run inning in the fourth. After a leadoff single from Clement, Haseley launched a two-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole. It was his fifth long ball of the year – all going to the opposite field. Simmons later tripled home a run and scored on a Charlie Cody (Jr., Chesapeake, Va.) groundout.
UVA added five runs in the seventh inning, including a two-run double from pinch hitter Nate Eikhoff (So., Bristow, Va.), and tacked on a run in the eighth on an Eikhoff sacrifice fly.
Virginia is on the road for four games during the upcoming week and plays seven of its next eight games away from home. UVA takes on George Washington at 3 p.m. Tuesday (March 7) at Tucker Field at Barcroft Park in Arlington, Va., before opening ACC play next weekend (March 10-12) at No. 13 North Carolina.
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Chris Graham
