Hultzen, Cavaliers Shut Down Boston College, 7-1

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Behind another sterling pitching performance from Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.), the top-ranked Virginia baseball team downed Boston College, 7-1, Friday night in front of a season-high crowd of 2,923 at Davenport Field.

Hultzen (4-1) worked a career-high eight innings and gave up just one earned run, three hits and one walk while striking out 12. Shane Halley (So., Burke, Va.) fired a scoreless ninth inning to wrap up the game.

Every Virginia starting position player recorded at least one hit and UVa finished with 11 hits. Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) and Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.) each had a pair of hits for UVa. Tyler Cannon (Sr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) stretched his hitting streak to 10 games with a second-inning double.

Boston College starter Kevin Moran (1-3) worked 2.1 innings and gave up six earned runs, eight hits and two walks while striking out one.

Virginia (15-3, 3-1 ACC) turned the first two pitches of the second inning into the game’s first run. Parker ripped the first pitch to left-center for a double and scored on the following pitch on a double to left-center by Cannon. Two outs later, Gosselin singled to left to score Cannon and Keith Werman (So., Vienna, Va.) followed with a single up the middle to plate Franco Valdes (Sr., Miami, Fla.) and give UVa a 3-0 advantage.

The Cavaliers then doubled their lead in the third inning. Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) led off with a double down the left-field line and Parker drilled the next pitch to the center-field wall for a double to score the run. After Cannon moved Parker to third with a groundout to the right side, John Hicks (So., Sandy Hook, Va.) singled through the drawn-in infield to push the UVa lead to 5-0. Valdes then singled to left to move Hicks to third, and Hicks scored on a Moran wild pitch, which proved to be his last pitch of the evening.

Virginia tacked on a run in the sixth inning against reliever Chris Kowalski. Reed Gragnani (Fr., Richmond, Va.) led off with a single and moved to second when Gosselin drew a walk. After a sacrifice bunt by Werman, Dan Grovatt (Jr., Tabernacle, N.J.) grounded to Philip Miclat at second to plate Gragnani and up the UVa lead to 7-0.

Boston College (7-10, 1-3) broke through in the seventh inning on a solo home run to right-center by John Spatola.

The teams return to Davenport Field at 1 p.m. Saturday for the second game of the series. The contest will be televised by the ACC’s Regional Sports Network, including Comcast Sports Net in Virginia.

Fans planning to attend games this weekend are encouraged to arrive early and purchase tickets ahead of time online at VirginiaSports.com. The ticket booth and gates to Davenport Field will open two hours prior to first pitch each day.

General admission seating is available in the grandstand and left-field bleachers as well as the grass hillside. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for youth (18 and under), seniors (60 and older) and faculty/staff (limit two per faculty/staff). Tickets can be ordered online at VirginiaSports.com. Advance ticket sales online end four hours prior to the game.

Free parking will be available all weekend in the University Hall, Cage and John Paul Jones Arena surface lots.

For the Sunday Little League parade, Little Leaguers are asked to arrive one hour prior to the game and listen for PA instructions.