#9 Virginia beats down Louisville, 16-7, to take another weekend ACC series

Ninth-ranked Virginia got, I’ll just say it, just enough, pitching, and the usual boat load of hitting, to blow past Louisville, 16-7, in a weekend series finale on Sunday.

The ‘Hoos (28-8, 11-7 ACC) started Owen Coady for the first time in more than a month, and he gave Brian O’Connor three innings.

They weren’t, mind you, three good innings – Coady (1-0, 3.54 ERA) allowed three runs on five hits, striking out four and walking three.

Chase Hungate (4-0, 3.64 ERA) got the win with four solid innings of relief.

Hungate allowed one run on four hits, struck out two and didn’t walk anybody.

Thinking out loud here: maybe O’Connor can go with Evan Blanco (4-1, 3.94 ERA) as his one traditional starter, and otherwise go with staff days, the way we’ve seen Duke make a go at trying to get through weekend series the past couple of years, with success.

The UVA offense was as advertised on Sunday, hitting six homers, including two from eight-hole hitter Luke Hanson (.310/.412/.540, 5 HRs, 24 RBIs), and one from nine-hole guy Eric Becker (.333/.438/.526, 3 HRs, 25 RBIs).

Also going deep: Harrison Didawick (.308/.428/.671, 15 HRs, 50 RBIs), Henry Ford (.372/.460/.723, 13 HRs, 49 RBIs) and Casey Saucke (.359/.420/.575, 8 HRs, 40 RBIs).

Virginia, as a team, is slashing .346/.438/.579, for a team OPS of 1.017, and the Cavaliers are averaging 10.4 runs per game.

All of that is simply ridiculous.

A busy week awaits UVA upon its return from the Bluegrass State, beginning Tuesday with a quick road trip to Norfolk to take on ODU at Harbor Park, the home of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides.

Then it’s back home for a Wednesday game with George Mason that opens a four-game homestand, with Georgia Tech coming to town for a three-game weekend series that begins on Friday.