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Virginia drops weekend series opener at Clemson, 6-1

Chris Graham
baseball
(© Sean Gladwell – stock.adobe.com)

Clemson opened a weekend ACC series with a 6-1 victory over Virginia on Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, snapping the Cavaliers’ three-game win streak.

The Tigers (15-11, 9-7 ACC) peppered Virginia (14-15, 6-13 ACC) pitching with 10 hits, nine of them singles. Clemson’s Adam Hackenberg capped a three-run third inning with a two-out, two-run bloop single to left.

The Tigers tacked on two more runs in the fourth inning on RBI singles by James Parker and Elijah Henderson.

The five runs were charged to Virginia starting pitcher Andrew Abbott, who pitched 4.2 innings, his second-shortest outing of the season. The lefthander struck out seven batters and surrendered a career-high eight hits, all singles.

The seven strikeouts for Abbott moved him up three spots on UVA’s career strikeout list and he now sits at No. 11 all-time with 231 punch outs. He is two strikeouts shy of entering the program’s top-10.

Clemson starting pitcher Mack Anglin limited Virginia to one hit over the first six innings. Junior Zack Gelof broke up Anglin’s no-hitter in the sixth with an infield single. Prior to that Anglin allowed only Chris Newell to reach on an error in the third. A 42-minute weather delay in the seventh inning would spell the end of Anglin’s day after 71 pitches.

The righthander struck out six batters and allowed just Gelof and Newell to reach base.

Immediately after the pause in action, Virginia was able to scratch across its first run of the day on an RBI groundout by Max Cotier. Senior Brendan Rivoli scored the lone run of the day for the Cavaliers after leading off the seventh inning with a single.

Senior Devin Ortiz had two of the five Cavalier hits and finished 2-for-4 with a double.

The two teams will be back at it on Saturday for the middle game with a first pitch set for 7 p.m. on ACC Network. Virginia will have Mike Vasil on the mound, and he’ll be opposed by lefty Keyshawn Askew.

Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham, the king of "fringe media," is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019, and Team of Destiny: Inside Virginia Basketball’s Run to the 2019 National Championship, and The Worst Wrestling Pay-Per-View Ever, published in 2018. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, or subscribe to his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].