It’s three weekends in a row now that Virginia has lost a weekend series. The ‘Hoos dropped the rubber match on Sunday to #20 Duke, 7-3.
That’s a 2-7 record in ACC play since April 14, with two of the three series losses coming at home.
Duke (31-13, 14-9 ACC) got three runs in the first, an Alex Stone solo homer in the third, his third of the series, and went up 6-0 in the fourth on RBI singles from Stone and MJ Metz.
A Kyle Teel RBI single in the bottom of the fourth got Virginia (35-11, 13-11 ACC) on the board, and Jake Gelof cut the lead in half with a two-run homer, his 18th, in the sixth.
That’s as close as it would get.
Duke got an unearned run in the seventh when Giovanni DiGiacomo came around to score on an RBI groundout by Tyler Albright.
Jack O’Connor (4-3, 4.25 ERA) was tagged with the loss, giving up five runs, all earned, on five hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Jay Woolfolk, who earlier in the week was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list, matched a career-high by pitching the final three innings.
Woolfolk kept Duke off the scoreboard, giving up four hits, striking out three, in lowering his 2023 season ERA to 2.10.
Next up for Virginia: the Cavaliers host a pair of in-state foes, VCU on Tuesday, then JMU on Wednesday.