The No. 18 UVA baseball team completed a three-game ACC series sweep with a 4-3 triumph over Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field. Virginia (26-8, 8-7 ACC) won its fifth straight game while earning its first ACC series sweep of the season.
“We feel fortunate that we got all three this weekend. They were hard fought and we had to play good baseball,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “Hopefully we can keep the positive momentum going. We won our five games this week and get a chance to play at home again Tuesday against a good VCU club and then head down to Blacksburg.”
Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) gave Virginia another quality start on the mound and earned the win, allowing three runs and three hits while striking out six in 6 1/3 innings. Haseley (5-1) cruised through six innings, retiring 18 of 19 batters and allowing just one hit, before running into trouble in the seventh inning. After Chesdin Harrington (So., Montpelier, Va.) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings, Tommy Doyle (Jr., Vienna, Va.) fired a scoreless ninth to claim his ninth save.
UVA limited Pitt to six runs and 11 hits in the series.
Pitt starter Josh Falk (3-3) worked six innings, giving up four runs (three earned) and eight hits while striking out four in taking the loss. Pitt dropped to 14-15 (6-9 ACC) with the loss.
Virginia totaled 10 hits, including three from Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.), who had a big series, going 7-for-12 with three straight multi-hit games. Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio) added a pair of hits.
After singles from Weber and Haseley put runners at corners with one out in the opening inning, Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) hit a looping liner that second baseman Alex Amos dropped, allowing Weber to come home.
Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) hit a two-out RBI single to plate Weber in the third, and Jake McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) lined a single to right to bring home Simmons in the fourth for a 3-0 edge.
Caleb Knight (Jr., Checotah, Okla.) launched a solo home run over the left-field bleachers to lead off the sixth, his second homer in as many days and his third of the year.
Haseley retired 14 straight batters from the second through sixth innings, but Pitt broke through in the seventh. Amos was hit by the first pitch of the inning and one out later Caleb Parry hit a soft single to center. Frank Maldonado followed with a three-run blast off the façade of the left-field bleachers, his second homer of the year, to spell the end of the day for Haseley.
Pitt threatened in the ninth inning, putting two on with one out following UVA’s first error of the weekend, but Doyle induced a double-play ball from Maldonado to end things.
Virginia concludes its homestand at 6 p.m. Tuesday against VCU before heading to Virginia Tech Thursday through Saturday for a three-game ACC series.
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Chris Graham
