Virginia and Clemson were finally able to get in Game 3 late Sunday night. The 12th-ranked ‘Hoos took the finale in front of a decent crowd at The Dish, winning 6-3.
The opener was suspended in the fourth inning on Friday night and concluded Saturday afternoon with Virginia winning 11-6. Then Game 2 got moved to Sunday morning, with Clemson winning, 8-2.
Game 3 got off to an 8:30 p.m. start after a six-and-a-half-hour delay.
““This was a challenging weekend for both teams, it really was,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Early mornings, doing it whatever we have to do to get three games in. I’ll tell you, I’ve got the highest level of respect for (Clemson head coach) Monte Lee. The ACC rules do not require somebody to stay on Sunday night and play like this. It’s, like, never happened. They wanted to do everything they could to play the games, and so that’s a testament to their program.”
Virginia (37-13, 16-11) took its first lead in the nightcap on a two-run homer from freshman Ethan Anderson in the fourth that put the Cavaliers up 3-1.
UVA followed up in the fifth inning with a three-run rally, two runs coming off the 18th home run of the season by Jake Gelof, a two-run shot that cleared the wall in left center.
Grad student Paul Kosanovich earned the win pitching 3.1 scoreless innings after taking over in the fourth inning. Playing in his last regular season home game, the righthander struck out four batters and stranded runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.
Kosanovich improved to 4-0 on the season and has been credited with wins in each of his last two appearances.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” O’Connor said. “We did not play well at all this morning. They beat us up good in game one. We bounced back. I thought our pitching was really good. (Jake) Berry got us off to a nice start, Paul Kosanovich was outstanding, coming in and getting the game under control. Those two guys who both pitched yesterday, (Jay) Woofolk and (Brandon) Neeck did some did some good things. Certainly, Gelof put a charge into that ball and we just did enough offensively.”
UVA Notes
- Alex Tappen recorded his 66th RBI of the season on an RBI ground out in the fifth inning to make the score 4-1.
- Gelof’s homer gave him his 70th and 71 RBIs of the season. He is only the second player in program history (Pavin Smith – 77 in 2017) to eclipse the 70 RBI mark in a single season.
- The 18 home runs by Gelof are tied with Jon Benick (2001) for the second most in a single season in school history.
- With the homers from Anderson and Gelof, Virginia now has 67 home runs as a team this season, matching the program record set in 1988.
- The Cavaliers finish the regular season with a 29-5 record at Disharoon Park that included an 11-4 mark against ACC foes.
Up next
Virginia will play its final ACC series of the season at Louisville beginning Thursday at 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s game will both air on ACC Network with start times of 4 p.m. and noon, respectively.
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Chris Graham
