The UVA baseball team lost to VCU, 11-5, Wednesday night at Davenport Field. Pavin Smith (So., Jupiter, Fla.) and Nate Eikhoff (Fr., Bristow, Va.) each had three hits for Virginia (24-16). Justin Novak (So., Tokyo, Japan) homered and drove in three runs for the Cavaliers.
“We pitched well yesterday and we didn’t pitch well today,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “If you don’t pitch better than we did, you’re not going to beat a good opponent, and they are very a good opponent. They played really well against us down at their place and again tonight and are deserving to win.”
VCU (26-12) hit four home runs – a season high for a UVA opponent – with Dorian Carpenter hitting a pair as part of a 3-for-5 night as the Rams won their seventh straight game. VCU finished with 14 hits, while Virginia had 12.
The third of five UVA pitchers, Kevin Doherty (Sr., Laytonsville, Md.) gave up three runs and four hits in one-third of an inning to take the loss and fall to 1-1. Making his first career start, Virginia’s Holden Grounds (Corsicana, Texas) worked two innings and allowed a run and three hits.
VCU reliever Luke Crabb (2-0) worked three innings of one-run relief to earn the win. Starter Jonathan Ebersole worked three innings and allowed three runs and six hits.
VCU used the long ball to grab a second-inning lead when Matt Davis led off with a solo homer to left field. UVA countered in its half of the second when Doak Dozier (Fr., Fort Worth, Texas) hit a game-tying RBI grounder right before Novak launched a two-run home run into the left-field bleachers. It was his second homer of the year.
The Rams scored in the third when Carpenter lined a solo home run into the bleachers in left-center field.
UVA added a run in the fourth. After back-to-back singles to start the inning from Eikhoff and Charlie Cody (So., Chesapeake, Va.), Dozier advanced the runners with a grounder. Novak followed with a run-scoring grounder to shortstop.
The game shifted in the fifth inning when VCU sent 10 batters to the plate in a five-run inning. After Will Roberts (R-So., Richmond, Va.) walked a pair of batters, Logan Farrar lined a ball off Doherty that caromed into right field for a double, scoring a run. With two outs, VCU tied the game when Doherty uncorked a wild pitch while attempting a pitch as part of an intentional walk to Davis. VCU then got consecutive RBI singles from Jimmy Kerrigan, Cody Acker and Walker Haymaker to move ahead, 7-4.
Carpenter hit his second homer of the day, a two-run shot to deep right-center, in the sixth inning to give VCU a 9-4 lead. The Rams added to their lead in the seventh on a two-out RBI single from Mitchel Lacey.
UVA scored a run in the seventh on an Eikhoff sacrifice fly. Farrar ripped a solo homer off the façade of the right-field bleachers in the eighth.
Virginia heads to No. 1 Miami Friday through Sunday for a three-game ACC series. Each game will air online on ESPN3.
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Chris Graham
