The No. 12 UVA baseball team scored seven runs in the seventh inning to come back and top William & Mary, 11-3, Tuesday at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers (8-0) have scored at least seven runs and put up at least 11 hits in each of their first eight games this season. It marks just the second time in program history that UVA has scored seven or more runs in each of its first eight games (1897).
“Their starter (Nick Raquet) was terrific and has a really good arm, and our guys continued to battle and put up some good at bats against him, and fortunately we were able to get to their bullpen in the seventh inning and put a rally together,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “I told our position players after the game that I was really proud of them because a few of them did not have great approaches in their first couple of at bats, and that has a lot to do with Raquet, but they came back in their last two at bats and really put some quality at bats up for our team, and that was good to see.”
Virginia recorded 11 hits, including two from Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) and Pavin Smith (Fr., Jupiter, Fla.). Both homered, while Smith drove in three runs and Haseley scored three times.
UVA reliever Alec Bettinger (Sr., Woodbridge, Va.) worked 2 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win and improve to 1-0 on the year. Tommy Doyle (Jr., Vienna, Va.) shut the door with 1 1/3 shutout innings of relief work. Michael Goldak (0-1) took the loss after allowing all seven runs (six earned) during UVA’s big seventh inning.
Both starting pitchers were excellent. Virginia starter Derek Casey (Jr., Mechanicsville, Va.) worked five innings, giving up two runs, five hits and a walk while striking out a pair. W&M starter Nick Raquet fired five innings, while giving up a run, three hits and one walk while striking out one.
Brandon Raquet staked William & Mary to a 2-0 advantage in the third inning with a two-out, two-run home run into the right-field bleachers on a 2-2 pitch.
UVA scratched across a run in the fourth inning as Haseley hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) groundout and scored on Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) sacrifice fly to right.
After being limited to a run and three hits over the first six innings, the Cavaliers exploded in the seventh inning, scoring seven runs. UVA went from a 2-1 deficit to a 7-2 lead in the span of six pitches over the course of four batters. With one out and runners at the corners, Cayman Richardson (Fr., Mechanicsville, Va.) hit a potential double-play ball up the middle, but shortstop Kyle Wrighte booted it, allowing Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio) to score.
Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) hit the go-ahead single on the following pitch. Jake McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) ripped the 1-0 pitch into the right-field corner for a triple to score two more, and he came all the way around to score on a throwing error on the relay to third.
Haseley followed with a towering home run to left-center field, his fourth blast of the year – each of which has gone to the opposite field. William & Mary then allowed a foul pop to drop between the catcher and first baseman against Smith, and he hit the next pitch over the wall in right-center for his third home run of the year. It marked UVA’s first back-to-back home runs since Nick Howard and Kenny Towns hit consecutive homers on May 23, 2013, against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament.
After W&M scored in the top of the eighth, UVA countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, including a two-run single from Smith.
Virginia plays host to a three-team, round-robin tournament Friday through Sunday at Davenport Field. Niagara and La Salle join the Cavaliers, with each team playing four games over the weekend. After Niagara and LaSalle open the weekend at noon Friday, UVA plays Niagara at 4 p.m. Friday. UVA plays a doubleheader Saturday with La Salle at noon Saturday and Niagara to follow, and plays La Salle once again at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
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Chris Graham
