Kevin Jaxel made things way too interesting in the ninth, but he eventually closed things out for #17 Virginia, which defeated VCU, 5-3, on Sunday, to finish off a three-game weekend sweep.
UVA (10-1, ELO: 30) got a solid outing from freshman righthander John Paone, who put in six scoreless innings, striking out four and giving up six hits.
That was the second long outing from a starting pitcher for the weekend – on Friday, lefty Henry Zatkowski went six innings, allowing two runs on one hit and two walks, with eight Ks, in another 5-3 Virginia win.
AJ Gracia (.385 BA, 1.460 OPS, 6 HR, 10 RBI) and Zach Jackson (.345 BA, 1.123 OPS, 2 HR, 3 RBI) each homered on Sunday; Jackson’s three-run shot in the eighth put Virginia up 5-1.
Jaxel (3-0, 3.37 ERA) got touched up for two runs in the ninth, on back-to-back two-out RBI singles from Quinn Maher and Nick Flores.
Nick Kirkpatrick flied out to center for the final out.
Next up for the ‘Hoos: a pair of games at Charlotte (7-3, ELO: 35), on Tuesday and Wednesday, ahead of a weekend series at #8 North Carolina (11-1, ELO: 9) that begins on Friday.
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Chris Graham
