The No. 11 Virginia baseball team picked up a 14-3 victory over Yale Tuesday on an extremely windy night at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers improved to 18-2, while Yale dropped to 1-8.
Freshman right-hander Trey Oest (Dover, Fla.) earned his fourth win in as many starts for Virginia. He pitched six innings, allowing a run, three hits and a walk while striking out a pair. Yale’s Ben Joseph (1-1) was saddled with the loss after giving up eight earned runs, eight hits and five walks in 2 2/3 innings.
Mike Papi (So., Tunkhannock, Pa.) led the Cavaliers’ offense with a 3-for-5 day, pacing a 12-hit day for Virginia. Jared King (R-Sr., Radford, Va.) added two hits and three RBI, while Branden Cogswell (So., Ballston Lake, N.Y.) had a two hits and a pair of RBI.
Virginia benefited from three walks to take a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning. After Joseph retired the leadoff batter, he walked the next three. He then balked King home, fired a wild pitch to score Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) and gave up a run-scoring double to Derek Fisher (So., Rexmont, Pa.).
UVa added a run in the second inning, once again taking advantage of a free pass. Nate Irving (So., Yonkers, N.Y.) drew a leadoff walk and scored two batters later on a King single.
The Cavaliers doubled their lead with a four-run third inning. Fisher and Papi hit consecutive singles to start the inning. Two outs later Irving walked to load the bases, and Cogswell followed with a two-run double to left-center. King then drove in a pair with a single to center.
Yale scored a run in the fourth on a solo home run to right by David Toups.
After three scoreless innings against reliever David Hickey, Virginia broke through for a pair of runs in the seventh. Pinch hitter Rob Bennie (Fr., Stroudsburg, Pa.) drew a leadoff walk and Papi followed with a single. A fly ball moved Bennie to third and he scored on a George Ragsdale (Fr., North Port, Fla.) sacrifice fly. Robbie Coman (Fr., Lake Worth, Fla.), in his first college at bat, followed with a screaming line drive to left-center for an RBI double to make it 10-1.
The Cavaliers added four unearned runs in a bizarre eighth inning. With no outs and runners on first and second, Downes lifted a high foul behind the plate, but the wind pushed the ball fair and it dropped in front of the plate. Pitcher Kevin Fortunato’s throw to third was errant, allowing Thomas Woodruff (So., Clifton, Va.) to score. Bennie grounded out to score Downes, and one out later Towns launched a long home run to left-center to push the lead to 14-1. It was Towns’ fourth homer of the year.
Yale added two runs in the ninth on a two-out, two-run home run by Josh Scharff.
The teams return to Davenport Field at 5 p.m. Wednesday for the back half of the two-game midweek series.
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