Virginia Comes Back to Defeat William & Mary in Midweek Action

Box Score (PDF)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (6-3) erased two early deficits in an 8-5 victory over William & Mary (3-5) on Tuesday evening (Feb. 25) at Disharoon Park. For the Cavaliers, it was their third come-from-behind win through the first nine games of the season.
 
Trailing 5-4 going into the fifth, Virginia rallied for four runs to jump out to an 8-5 lead and the Cavalier bullpen held William & Mary scoreless in its final five turns at the plate seal the victory.
 
Catcher Logan Michaels (DeForest, Wis.) delivered the go-ahead blow with his first home run as a Cavalier in the game-changing fifth inning. The senior hit a two-run shot over the left center field wall to break a 5-5 tie. A batter later, Christian Hlinka (Frenchtown, N.J.) hit a solo shot to the opposite field for his team-leading, third long ball of the year and gave Virginia an 8-5 advantage.
 
Junior reliever Andrew Abbott (Republican Grove, Va.) would do the majority of the heavy lifting from there. The lefthander was dominant, striking out a career-high eight batters in 3.1 innings of work. Eight of the 10 outs he recorded were via the strikeout. Abbott was credited with the win and moved to 2-0 on the season.
 
“As I told the team, I thought that was a nice come-from-behind victory,” said head coach Brian O’Connor. “I thought that (Andrew) Abbott was the story of the game, his longest outing of the year. He showed the value he has and the weapon he is out of our bullpen.”
 
Right-hander Stephen Schoch (Laurel, Md.) pitched the ninth inning and worked around a Cavalier fielding error for his third save of the season.
 
Sophomore Zack Gelof (Rehoboth Beach, Del.) continued his hot-hitting with a 3-for-4, two-RBI effort at the plate and reached base a total of four times. It marked the fourth-straight contest he has put-forth a multi-hit game. In his last four games he is 9-for-15 (.600) with six runs scored, a double, a triple, two home runs and eight RBI.
 
Freshman Chris Newell (Newtown Square, Pa.) went 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. He has reached base in eight of his first nine collegiate games. Junior transfer Marc Lebreux (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) tied the game for the last time in the fifth with an RBI double and finished the day, 2-for-5 with a run scored. Junior Brendan Rivoli (Douglassville, Pa.) rounded out the Cavalier multi-hit performers with a 2-for-5 day.
 
Virginia continues its home stand this weekend with three games against Dartmouth beginning Friday, (Feb. 28) at 3 p.m.
 
Additional Notes:
• The game saw three lead changes and one tie score over the first four innings of play.
• Virginia hitters struck out a season-low two times, both strikeouts occurred in the seventh inning.
• Virginia has now won 17 of its last 18 games against non-conference opponents at Disharoon Park.
• The Cavaliers improve to 78-31-2 all-time against William & Mary. The two schools have met in all but two seasons (1996 & 2006) since 1968.
• Virginia is 2-0 this season and 6-1 all-time in games that Zach Messinger (Chandler, Ind.) starts. The sophomore allowed two earned runs over the 2.2 innings of work.