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Baseball
Virginia Drops Series Finale at Pitt
April 1, 2018
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Virginia (15-13, 4-8 ACC) was limited to three hits in a 4-1 loss at Pittsburgh (14-10, 4-8 ACC) at Charles L. Cost Field. Five Cavalier pitchers combined for 11 strikeouts in the contest.
Pittsburgh scored the first four runs of the game, three coming in the first three innings. After Panther redshirt junior Liam Sabino hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, centerfielder Frank Maldonado drove in the final three Pittsburgh runs with two-out singles in the third and seventh. For the series Maldonado went 5-for-9 with a home run and nine RBIs.
Virginia scored its lone run of the contest in the top of the eighth on an RBI ground out by Cayman Richardson (Mechanicsville, Va.) that plated Cameron Comer (Powell, Ohio). Richardson was 1-for-4 with his fourth RBI of the season. Freshman Alex Tappen (Lower Gwynedd, Pa.) and Charlie Cody (Chesapeake, Va.) were responsible for the other two Virginia base hits.
Panther starting pitcher Blair Calvo, middle reliever Kevin Henriksen and Yaya Chentouf combined to strike out four Virginia batters and issued five walks on the afternoon. The trio held Virginia to one hit over the final six innings.
Virginia relief pitchers Riley Wilson (Midlothian, Va.), Mack Meyer (San Francisco, Calif.), Andrew Abbott (Halifax, Va.) and Kyle Whitten (Manassas, Va.) did not allow an earned run over the last 5.1 innings. Including starter Grant Donahue (Berlin, Md.) the five pitchers struck out 11 batters, the 19th time this season Virginia has struck out 10 or more batters.
The Cavaliers will begin a 10-game home stand on Tuesday (April 3) when they host Old Dominion at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers will host ACC foes Virginia Tech and North Carolina the next two weekends.
Additional Notes
– Virginia is 16-5 all-time against Pittsburgh and the series win for the Panthers is the first in five total ACC series
– Andy Weber (Aurora, Ohio) had his 13-game hit streak come to a halt. It was the longest of his career and second longest on the team this season.
– Meyer made his team-leading 12 appearance on the mound this season and has seen action in five of the last six games.
– In addition to three RBIs in the contest, Maldonado made eight putouts in centerfield.
– All three home runs hit by Pittsburgh in the series were solo shots.