It took a while for #11 Virginia to shake in-state foe George Mason, but 10 runs in their last five at-bats provided separation in a 17-7 win at The Dish Wednesday night.
UVA (32-10) has now won the first five games of its 14-game homestand, with a weekend series against #8 Virginia Tech looming beginning on Friday.
Jake Gelof hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot with two outs in fourth inning, to give UVA an 8-6 advantage. The home run tied Jarrett Parker (2009) and Joe Koshansky (2004) For the third most in a single season in UVA history.
Gelof was a triple short of his second cycle of the season and went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI on the day.
Virginia’s seven, eight and nine hitters – Ethan Anderson, Casey Saucke and Max Cotier – each had four RBI in the contest.
George Mason (14-25) took the lead twice in the contest, 1-0 after the top of the first, and 6-3 after the top of the third. UVA responded by tying the game in the first and took the lead for good with a three-run rally in the third inning.
The Cavaliers finally went ahead for good, 7-6, on a two-RBI single from Cotier in the third and didn’t trail from that point forward.
Virginia blew the game open in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run rally. After the first five batters reached, and Anderson drew a bases loaded walk to drive in the second run of the inning, Saucke drove in a pair on a single through the left side.
Righthander Alex Greene earned his first career win after taking over in the third and pitching the next 2.1 innings. He allowed only an unearned run to score in his seventh appearance of the season.
“I told our team I was really proud,” UVA coach Brian O’Connor said. “They (George Mason) took the lead in the third inning, and we bounced back with a really good patient, opportunistic offensive approach in the bottom of the third and fourth innings. Certainly, a great offensive night by a number of guys. Ethan Anderson was really locked in, Max Cotier in back-to-back games, I thought he had a great approach, and a lot of guys did. We came into the game knowing that we were going to chop the game up from a pitching staff standpoint, wanting to get a lot of guys work out there, which they did. And most all of them did a nice job and we’ll be ready to go for the weekend.”
The series opener with Virginia Tech is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. Prior to Saturday’s middle game, the Virginia baseball program will retire No. 11 in honor of Ryan Zimmerman in a pregame ceremony. Gates will open at 2:30 with ceremonies scheduled to begin at 3:30 and first pitch of the contest slated for 4 p.m.
The series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.
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Chris Graham
