Baseball: No. 14 Virginia defeats No. 23 NC State, 5-3

The No. 14 Virginia baseball team knocked off No. 23 NC State, 5-3, Saturday afternoon in front of a season-high crowd of 4,300 in the second game of the three-game ACC series at Davenport Field. UVA (18-10, 6-5 ACC) opened up a 1-0 game by scoring four runs in the eighth inning and then held on as NC State (18-9, 4-5) scored three runs in the ninth inning as the Cavaliers evened the series at a game apiece.

Virginia starter Adam Haseley (So., Windermere, Fla.) worked six shutout innings, allowing six hits and a pair of walks while striking out five. Making his first weekend start of the year, Haseley (6-0) earned his sixth win in as many starts. He also led off the UVA batting order and had a pair of hits.

Tyler Shambora (Jr., Venice, Fla.) and Alec Bettinger (Jr., Woodbridge, Va.) combined to finish off the win.

NC State starter Brian Brown (3-1) took the loss despite allowing just one run (unearned) and three hits over 7 2/3 innings. Reliever Cody Beckman gave up four runs in the eighth inning.

“I thought Adam Haseley was tremendous and so was Brian Brown,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “I’m proud of Adam. We moved him into the rotation and he responded by giving us as good of a start as you can. Fortunately in the eighth inning we were able to build an inning and take advantage of some opportunities that certainly proved to be important with their rally in the ninth inning.”

Virginia finished with seven hits, including four in the eighth inning. NC State picked up 11 hits.

Despite a stiff breeze blowing straight out to center field at around 15 mph throughout the game, the pitchers dominated for much of the day. Virginia manufactured the game’s first run in the fifth inning. Ryan Karstetter (Fr., State College, Pa.) reached on a throwing error to open the inning and moved to second when Doak Dozier (Fr., Fort Worth, Texas) bunted his way on base as Brown slipped attempting to field the ball. After Justin Novak (So., Tokyo, Japan) sacrificed the runners over, Andy Weber (Fr., Aurora, Ohio) hit a sac fly to left field.

After being held to three hits in 7 2/3 innings against Brown, Virginia quickly turned the tables against Beckman. After back-to-back singles from Haseley and Ernie Clement (So., Rochester, N.Y.), Matt Thaiss (Jr., Jackson, N.J.) lined a double to right-center to score both runners. Two batters later, Jack Gerstenmaier (So., Richmond, Va.) doubled to left field to score two more and push the lead to 5-0.

NC State quickly made things interesting again in the ninth inning. After the first two batters reached against Shambora, Bettinger took the mound. Brock Deatherage lined a double to right-center to score a run, but he was thrown out at second base when the runner at third, Preston Palmeiro, did not come home. Joe Dunand’s RBI single made it a 5-2 game. Bettinger struck out pinch hitter Shane Shepard, but Stephen Pitarra doubled to right-center to score Dunand. Josh McLain reached base on catcher’s interference before Andrew Knizner lifted a fly ball to right field to end the game.

The series finale is set for 1 p.m. Sunday. A live video broadcast is available with a Cavaliers Live subscription on VirigniaSports.com. A link to live statistics (GameTracker) also can be found on VirginiaSports.com.