No. 2 Louisville rallies, tops No. 16 UVA, 4-3, takes weekend series

The No. 16 UVA baseball team lost to No. 2 Louisville, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in the finale of the three-game series at Davenport Field. The Cardinals (24-3, 10-2 ACC) scored two runs in the eighth inning to rally as they claimed the series, two games to one. The Cavaliers (21-8, 5-7 ACC) have lost three of their first four ACC series, with each series loss coming to teams currently ranked among the top seven nationally.

“That was a great college baseball game between two really good teams,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “Unfortunately we had opportunities throughout the game to open it up a little bit and we didn’t do that. Certainly the eighth inning was a tough inning for us. It was a great game, and you feel like when you’re at home, you find a way to win that ballgame and unfortunately we did not. It’s a tough one, but we’ll bounce back.”

Virginia starter Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) pitched seven strong innings, allowing two earned runs, five hits and two walks while striking out five. UVA reliever Tommy Doyle (Jr., Vienna, Va.) took the loss and fell to 1-1 after allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings of work.

Louisville’s bullpen pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, with Adam Wolf (2-0) earning the win after an inning of work. Lincoln Henzman stranded baserunners in the eighth and ninth inning, firing 1 2/3 innings to notch his seventh save. Starter Nick Bennett allowed three runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings.

Virginia finished with nine hits, with Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.), Charlie Cody (Jr., Chesapeake, Va.) and Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) picking up two apiece. UVA struggled to come up with the clutch hit, going 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position while leaving eight runners on base (four in scoring position).

Virginia used singles from Clement and Haseley to grab a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but Louisville countered with a pair of runs in the second. The Cardinals strung together three straight hits to begin the inning, capped by a run-scoring bunt single from Colin Lyman, and then took the lead on a Zeke Pinkham RBI grounder.

UVA recaptured the lead in the fourth with a pair of runs on a Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) groundout and a two-out Jake McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) RBI single.

Louisville tied the game in the eighth when Devin Hairston led off with a solo home run to left-center, his third home run of the season. The Cardinals put runners on the corners with one out, and on a Lyman stolen base attempt, the throw to second bounced away from Clement, with pinch runner Logan Taylor then scampering home from third. The error was UVA’s first in the series.

Virginia remains home for five games this week, beginning at 5 p.m. Tuesday against red-hot Old Dominion (22-6). UVA also plays George Washington at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Pittsburgh next weekend (April 7-9).