No. 1 Virginia Baseball Shuts Out Duke, 10-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) became Virginia’s all-time wins leader as the top-ranked Cavaliers blanked Duke, 10-0, Friday evening in front of 3,550 fans at Davenport Field. Virginia (34-3, 14-2 ACC) recorded its 11th shutout of the season, tying the Atlantic Coast Conference single-season record, previously set by the 1977 Clemson and 2005 Virginia teams.

The win was the 350th in the coaching career of UVa head coach Brian O’Connor. He reached the 350-win plateau in just 472 games, the fewest in ACC history. Florida State’s Mike Martin reached that mark in 478 games.

Hultzen (8-0) won his 28th career game to set the UVa career wins record, passing Jacob Thompson, who won 27 games from 2006-08. Hultzen is now 28-2 in his career. He worked 7.0 scoreless innings, allowing just four singles. He struck out nine and did not walk a batter. He now has fanned 99 batters in nine starts this season and 329 in his career, which ranks 12th in conference history.

Dillon Haviland (2-3) took the loss for Duke (20-17, 4-12), allowing eight earned runs and nine hits in 4.1 innings. Jeff Kremer had two of Duke’s four hits on the evening.

Colin Harrington (So., Johnstown, Pa.) racked up a career-best three hits to pace the Cavaliers’ 13-hit night at the plate. Chris Taylor (So., Virginia Beach, Va.), John Hicks (Jr., Sandy Hook, Va.) and Jared King (Jr., Radford, Va.) each had two hits and two RBI.

Virginia struck first with a three-run third inning, with all the scoring coming after two were out. With one out Harrington singled to left-center field. He moved up a base on a sacrifice by Keith Werman (Jr., Vienna, Va.) and scored when John Barr (Sr., Ivyland, Pa.) singled to center. Hicks then ripped a double to right-center, scoring Werman and Barr easily.

UVa added a pair of runs in the fourth. King and Reed Gragnani (So., Richmond, Va.) hit consecutive singles to lead off the inning. Following a Tyler Biddix (Sr., Richmond, Va.) sacrifice bunt, Harrington singled to plate King. Werman then laid down a well-executed squeeze bunt to score Gragnani and give UVa a 5-0 lead.

The Cavaliers tacked on three runs in the fifth inning. With one out and runners on second and third, King doubled into the left-field corner to score two. Pinch hitter David Coleman (Sr., Richmond, Va.) then blooped a single to left to bring King home and push the lead to 8-0.

Virginia padded its lead with two runs in the seventh on a two-out, two-run single to left by Taylor.

The teams will not play Saturday because of probable inclement weather. The series will resume Sunday when the teams play a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. Tickets for the Saturday game will be good for the second game Sunday. For more information on the doubleheader, including ticket info, click here.