No. 11 UVA blasts Longwood, 13-2

The No. 11 UVA baseball team posted its 30th win of the 2017 season Tuesday with a 13-2 victory over Longwood at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers (30-9) limited Longwood (12-23) to two hits while three UVA pitchers combined to strike out 14 batters.

Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) went 4-for-4 and drove in three runs to lead a 12-hit attack. Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio) went 2-for-4 with three RBI, while Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) added a pair of hits.

Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) and Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) each homered as UVA went deep for the 10th straight game, the Cavaliers’ longest such streak since homering in 11 straight games from Feb. 28-March 15, 1998.

Bennett Sousa (Jr., North Palm Beach, Fla.) worked 2 1/3 perfect innings of relief to earn the win and improve to 3-0 on the year. Starter Evan Sperling walked five batters over 4 2/3 innings, but allowed just one unearned run and one hit while striking out seven. Jack Roberts (Sr., Richmond, Va.) pitched the final two innings to finish off the win.

Longwood used seven pitchers in the game. Starter Jon Peterson (1-1) took the loss after allowing three runs, five hits and three walks over 3 2/3 innings. The Lancers’ lone hits came on a third-inning infield single from Antwaun Tucker and an eighth-inning bloop single from Nathan Iskowitz.

On a tear of late, Simmons started fast with a two-run homer to left field in the second inning, his fifth of the year. It extended his hit streak to a career-high 12 games.

After Longwood scored an unearned run in the third, UVA countered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double from Smith, plating Haseley.

Virginia broke the game open by sending 11 batters to the plate in a six-run fifth inning. After Smith hit a leadoff single, the next three Cavaliers walked to force in a run. Justin Novak (Jr., Tokyo, Japan) then hit into a fielder’s choice, with Coman scoring, and Caleb Knight (Jr., Checotah, Okla.) following him home following a Longwood error. Weber later hit a two-run triple into the right-field corner and scored on a two-out Smith single to right.

UVA added four runs in the seventh, capped by a two-run homer to left from Coman, his fifth of the year. He stretched his hit streak to a career-best dozen games.

Longwood got a pinch-hit RBI single from Iskowitz in the eighth inning to close the scoring.

Virginia remains home Wednesday for a 6 p.m. game against James Madison.