No. 18 Virginia Tops George Washington, 11-1

April 5, 2017

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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The No. 18 Virginia baseball team scored in six of its eight trips to the plate in rolling to an 11-1 win over George Washington Wednesday at Davenport Field. UVA (23-8) finished with 15 hits and totaled 29 runs and 43 hits over its two midweek victories this week.

“I thought this was a really important midweek series for us, coming off the difficult loss Sunday against Louisville where we had a chance to win at the end of the game and didn’t do it,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “Our guys really responded. First, our offense was really tremendous. A number of players rose up and made contributions over these two days. I thought Daniel Lynch was terrific tonight. He needed that, and we needed that out of him, so that was great to see.”

All nine Virginia starters recorded hits. Andy Weber (So., Aurora, Ohio) was 3-for-4 with three doubles and three runs scored, while Ernie Clement (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) hit a two-run homer as part of a two-hit day. Pavin Smith (Jr., Jupiter, Fla.) was 2-for-2 with three RBI and had five hits and 10 RBI in the midweek games this week, while Adam Haseley (Jr., Windermere, Fla.) added a pair of hits.

UVA starter Daniel Lynch (So., Henrico, Va.) pitched six shutout innings, allowing five hits and no walks while fanning two to earn the win and improve to 5-2 on the year. GW starter Robbie Metz (0-1) lasted one inning and allowed three runs and four hits. GW (13-16) finished with eight hits.

Four of the first six UVA batters recorded hits as the Cavaliers took a 3-0 lead in the first inning. With one out and runners on first and second, Smith lined a double to the right-center field wall to score a pair. Smith then came home on a Cameron Simmons (So., Royersford, Pa.) single to left.

The Cavaliers added a run in the second on a Weber sac fly and scored two more in the third inning on back-to-back run-scoring hits from Caleb Knight (Jr., Checotah, Okla.) and Justin Novak (Jr., Tokyo, Japan). Virginia stretched the lead to 7-0 in the fourth when Smith hit a sac fly to right to score Weber, who led off the inning with a double.

Virginia added a run in the sixth on a Robbie Coman (Gr., Lake Worth, Fla.) single to score Weber and added three in the seventh on Clement’s two-run homer to left — his second long ball of the year — and a Haseley infield single to score Weber.

George Washington broke up the shutout in the eighth inning when Metz scored on a wild pitch.

UVA remains home this weekend, playing host to Pittsburgh Friday through Sunday in a three-game ACC series.