The No. 10 Virginia baseball team scored four runs in the eighth inning to break a 3-3 deadlock in a 7-4 victory over Miami Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers (38-12, 16-11 ACC) won the final two games against Miami (25-26, 13-13) to earn the series victory, UVA’s fifth straight ACC series win of the year.
UVA also captured its eighth straight series against the Hurricanes and has not lost a series to Miami since 2009.
“I talked about it last night with the bounceback in the second game of the doubleheader, and then for us to respond like we did today, I am really proud of our guys,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “It was a huge series win for us coming out of final exams. Miami is a very good team and they are fighting for their postseason lives, and I thought our guys played a terrific ballgame.”
Jake McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) went 2-for-5 with a homer, two runs and two RBI, while Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) and Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) each added a pair of hits as UVA finished with eight hits. Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio) drove in a pair of runs, including the go-ahead score in the eighth inning. UVA’s standout duo of Adam Haseley (Jr., Winderemere, Fla.) and Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) was held hitless for just the third time this year.
Virginia reliever Tommy Doyle worked the final two innings to earn the win and improve to 2-1 on the year. Bennett Sousa (Jr., North Palm Beach, Fla.) tossed 2 2/3 strong innings in relief of starter Derek Casey (Jr., Mechanicsville, Va.), who worked 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, six hits and four walks while striking out a pair.
Miami reliever Andrew Cabezas (4-3) took the loss after allowing three runs (one earned) over 2 1/3 innings. Hurricanes starter Jesse Lepore pitched five innings, giving up three runs (one earned), four hits and three walks while striking out two. Of Virginia’s seven runs, only two were earned.
Virginia broke an early stalemate in the third inning when McCarthy cranked a first-pitch solo home run over the right-field bleachers, his third long ball of the year. The Cavaliers pushed their lead to 3-0 in the fourth, parlaying a leadoff error into two runs on a Weber sac fly and a two-out single by Clement.
Miami responded with a pair of runs in the next inning on a two-run double off the right-center field wall from Hunter Tackett. The Hurricanes then tied the game on an unearned run in the eighth inning, getting an RBI groundout with one out from Joe Gomez.
UVA responded by batting around and scoring four runs in its half of the eighth. Weber bounced a single into right field to bring home Simmons to break the tie. After Clement was hit by a pitch, McCarthy hit a grounder to shortstop Johnny Ruiz, who bobbled it and then threw it past second base. Both runners scored and McCarthy advanced to third as the ball rolled into foul territory. McCarthy then came home on a sac fly from Smith.
Miami got an RBI double from Michael Burns in the ninth, but Doyle stranded him at third to end the game.
Prior to the game, Virginia honored graduating student manager Ben Cassillo as well as Alec Bettinger (Sr., Woodbridge, Va.), Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.), Jack Roberts (Richmond, Va.) and Tyler Shambora (Sr., Venice, Fla.) during Senior Day ceremonies.
Virginia concludes its home schedule at 6 p.m. Tuesday (May 16) against Richmond before trekking to Georgia Tech Thursday through Saturday (May 18-20) for a three-game ACC series to wrap up the regular season.
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