The Duke Boys – AJ Gracia, Sam Harris and Noah Murray – each went deep multiple times for Virginia in a 21-8 run-rule victory over Monmouth on Friday at Melching Field at Stetson University.
The ‘Hoos are spending the weekend in Florida because, you know, it’s February.
Gracia hit three homers, and Harris and Murray each hit two – and I checked, Melching Field isn’t a bandbox: it plays 335 feet down the lines in left and right, and is 403 feet to center; Disharoon Park is 332 feet down the lines and 403 feet to center.
It was warmer, and maybe the wind was blowing out.
I wasn’t there.
(Wish I was.)
Gracia is the fourth Cavalier to hit three homers in a game, and the first since Henry Ford had three against North Carolina in 2024.
Henry Zatkowski, the designated Friday starting pitcher, had another day on the struggle bus – getting touched for four runs, three earned, on five hits in four innings of work.
Through two starts, Zatkowski has a 10.29 ERA and 2.43 WHIP.
This game was actually close late. Monmouth (1-3) got the score to 10-8 with a four-run seventh – all four runs were unearned, following a two-out error by Murray that opened up the floodgates.
UVA scored 11 runs in the eighth – highlighted by a three-run homer by Murray, a two-run double from Harris, a two-run double from Antonio Perrotta and RBI singles from Eric Becker and Harrison “Don’t Call Me Diddy” Didawick.
On Saturday, Virginia will face Stetson, with Max Stammel, who struck out five in three scoreless innings last weekend in his first start of the season, in a win over Wagner, taking the mound for the ‘Hoos.
Stetson will start righthander Ethan Phillips, who took the loss last Saturday in a 5-2 setback to Ball State, in which he gave up three runs, one earned, on three hits in five innings of work, with three strikeouts and four walks.
First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
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Chris Graham
