William & Mary (5-1) erased an early 3-1 deficit by scoring the game’s final eight runs, in a 9-3 victory over Virginia (4-4) at Disharoon Park on Tuesday. The loss snapped a four-game Cavalier win streak.
Virginia jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on back-to-back, two-out RBI singles from Brendan Rivoli (Douglassville, Pa.) and Cameron Comer (Powell, Ohio). Rivoli finished the game with two hits, his third-straight multi-hit effort. He raised his season average to .375, second highest on the club.
William & Mary capitalized on eight walks, two hit by pitches and three errors by Virginia in the contest, all season-highs.
“I think we had eight walks and two hit batters, that’s 10 free passes we gave away right there in nine innings of baseball,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “You’re just not going to win college baseball games like that, plain and simple. It’s right there in front of us what we need to do to be successful and for the first time this year we did not play good defense, so those are two areas we need to be better in.”
The Tribe plated four runs in the third inning to take the lead for good and tacked on three more in the fifth. Three of the final eight William & Mary runs were unearned. Matt McDermott led William & Mary at the plate, going 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Freshman Hunter Hart tallied three hits and scored three of the nine Tribe runs.
Virginia senior Chesdin Harrington (Montpelier, Va.) made his team-high fourth appearance on the mound, pitching the final three innings. He fanned a career-best, seven batters and has not allowed a run in his last five innings pitched.
Virginia continues its home stand this weekend with a three-game series against Seton Hall. The opener is slated for Friday at 3 p.m. All three contests will air live on ACC Network Extra.
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Chris Graham
