Virginia Finishes Series Sweep, Defeats Clemson, 5-3

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia baseball team finished off a three-game series sweep of Clemson Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 victory over the Tigers at Davenport Field. Virginia (15-8-1, 5-4 ACC) swept the Tigers for the second-consecutive year and now has won seven straight against Clemson.

Virginia starting pitcher Artie Lewicki (So., Wyckoff, N.J.) worked a career-high 6.0 innings to earn his first career victory for UVa. Lewicki (1-1) allowed two earned runs, six hits and two walks while striking out four. Austin Young (So., Mechanicsville, Va.) tossed 2.0 shutout innings before Justin Thompson (Sr., Danville, Va.) fired a scoreless ninth inning to notch his fourth save.

Virginia’s starting pitchers all recorded quality starts in the series, with Scott Silverstein (Sr., Olney, Md.), Branden Kline (Jr., Frederick, Md.) and Lewicki all working at least 6.0 innings and giving up two runs or fewer.

Clemson starter Kevin Pohle (3-1) pitched 4.0 innings, allowing three earned runs, four hits and four walks while striking out one in taking the loss.

Derek Fisher (Fr., Rexmont, Pa.) led UVa at the plate, going 2-for-2 with three runs scored. Keith Werman (Sr., Vienna, Va.) and Colin Harrington (Jr., Johnstown, Pa.) each recorded two hits for the Cavaliers. Werman was 6-for-10 with four RBI in the series. Steve Wilkerson posted three hits for Clemson (11-11, 3-6).

UVa needed just two batters to break into the scoring column. Chris Taylor (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) led off with a single to right, and the ball skipped past right fielder Brad Felder, allowing Taylor to move around to third. Harrington slapped the next pitch to right for a double to plate Taylor.

The Cavaliers tacked on a second-inning run as Fisher led off with a triple and scored two batters later when Mitchell Shifflett (So., Midlothian, Va.) grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Virginia manufactured a run in the fourth inning to up its lead to 3-0. Fisher was hit by the first pitch of the inning, then moved to second on a Nate Irving (Fr., Yonkers, N.Y.) sacrifice and third on a Shifflett fly out. Werman hit a grounder to third baseman Richie Shaffer, who was pulled in to protect against the bunt; Shaffer made a diving stop but the ball slipped out of his hand as he went throw, allowing Werman to reach with a single and Fisher to score.

Clemson chipped a run from the lead in the fifth on a two-out RBI single from Wilkerson, scoring Dominic Attanasio, and scored again in the sixth on a solo home run to left field from Phil Pohl.

The Tigers recorded three straight singles to start the seventh inning against UVa reliever Kyle Crockett (Fr., Poquoson, Va.), capped by a Wilkerson RBI hit. Young entered the game and induced Jason Stolz to bunt the first pitch right back to him. Young caught the pop up, then fired back to second base to complete a double play. Shaffer then popped to shortstop to end the threat.

Virginia added an insurance run in the seventh inning. After Fisher was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs, Irving fell into an 0-2 hole against reliever Scott Firth before battling back through a 9-pitch at-bat to coax a walk and force Stephen Bruno (Jr., Audubon, N.J.) home.

The Cavaliers return to Davenport Field at 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday for games against Towson. UVa heads to NC State next weekend in ACC play.