The No. 10 Virginia baseball team split a doubleheader with Miami Saturday afternoon at Davenport Field. Coming off a 10-day break which encompassed the period for final exams as well as the Friday night rainout, the Cavaliers (37-12) dropped Game 1, 5-1, but rebounded to top the Hurricanes (25-25, 13-12 ACC), 13-6, in the nightcap.
The rubber game of the series is slated for 1 p.m. Sunday. Virginia will conduct Senior Day ceremonies at 12:40 p.m.
Game 1
In the opener, Virginia was handcuffed by Miami starter Jeb Bargfeldt (6-3), as he allowed just three hits and a walk in a complete-game effort. He struck out six.
UVA was limited to a season-low three hits and had only four baserunners, with Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) picking up a pair of hits on a home run and a double.
Virginia starter Daniel Lynch (So., Henrico, Va.) took the loss and dropped to 6-3 after allowing five runs, six hits and two walks over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out four. Grant Donahue (So., Berlin, Md.) shut out Miami over a career-high 3 1/3 innings of relief.
Miami led from the outset and grabbed a 1-0 lead just three batters into the game on Johnny Ruiz’s RBI double, then made it 4-0 in the third on a two-out, two-run homer to left by Romy Gonzalez.
Haseley hit a one-out solo home run over the right-field bleachers in the fourth inning, his team-leading 13th blast of the year. It marks the ninth-most home runs in a season at Virginia and the most since Jarrett Parker hit 16 in 2009.
The Hurricanes took advantage of a single and a pair of walks in the sixth, scoring on a two-out wild pitch from Donahue for a 5-1 edge.
Game 2
Virginia rallied from an early 4-0 deficit in the nightcap, using two big innings to do all of its damage. The Cavaliers sent 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run second inning and batted around in a five-run sixth inning. Virginia batters drew a season-high 12 walks, seven of which scored.
Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) hit a grand slam and drove in a career-high six runs as part of a 2-for-5 game, while every UVA starter scored at least one run. Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) also recorded a pair of hits.
Virginia reliever Alec Bettinger (Sr., Woodbridge, Va.) fired six innings of two-run relief to earn the win and improve to 8-0 on the year. UVA starter Noah Murdock (Fr., Colonial Heights, Va.) worked two innings, giving up four runs, five hits and two walks. Miami starter Greg Veliz (4-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs, six hits and three walks in 1 2/3 innings.
Miami again scored in the opening inning, getting a two-out RBI single to center from Hunter Tackett, which snapped Murdock’s scoreless streak at 20 innings, dating to April 8. The Hurricanes tacked on three runs in the second inning a two-run double from Carl Chester and an RBI single from Ruiz.
UVA used a massive two-out rally to score eight runs in its half of the second. Nine straight Cavaliers reached base after two were out, including six on singles and three via walks. With two out and Caleb Knight (Jr., Checotah, Okla.) on first base, UVA recorded five straight singles to cut the Miami lead to 4-3, with a bases-loaded walk to Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) tying the game and knocking out Veliz. Reliever Keven Pimentel then walked Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) and Knight to force in two more runs before Simmons lined a two-run single to center to cap the eight-run frame.
Miami used a two-out rally of its own in the sixth inning to score twice and cut the UVA lead to 8-6 as Chester and Michael Burns had back-to-back run-scoring hits.
The Cavaliers scored five runs in their half of the sixth while taking advantage of five Miami walks. Miami’s Michael Mediavilla and Andrew Cabezas combined to walk the bases loaded, and a base on balls to Knight forced in a run. Simmons then launched the 1-0 on pitch off the batter’s eye in straightaway center field for his first career grand slam. It was his sixth homer of the season.
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