Virginia Holds Off Dartmouth in Finale to Complete Series Sweep

Box Score (PDF)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia (9-3) finished off a three-game series sweep of Dartmouth (2-5) with a 4-3 victory in the series finale on Sunday (March 1) at Disharoon Park. The Cavaliers won their fifth-straight game and now have been victorious in 20 of the last 21 games against non-conference opponents at home.
 
The Virginia bullpen preserved the one-run victory despite Dartmouth placing the tying run on each of its last three turns at the plate. Graduate student Stephen Schoch (Laurel, Md.) worked around a lead-off single in the ninth to record his fourth save of the season. The right-hander struck out three of the four batters he faced in the top of the ninth in his team-leading, eighth appearance of the year.
 
In the two innings prior, Kyle Whitten (Manassas, Va.) got the job done, allowing just an unearned run in 1.1 innings of work. The junior struck out the final batter of the top of the seventh with Dartmouth runners on second and third base and the UVA lead, 4-3.
 
“I thought today was a really gutty team win,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “When you bring four relievers in who all have a fair amount of experience here, I thought they all did a nice job. It wasn’t an impressive offensive day, but we did enough, executed two hit and runs and Chris Newell had another spectacular day for us. We just did enough and sometimes that’s baseball, sometimes that’s what you have to do to be a little bit better.”
 
Junior Andrew Abbott (Republican Grove, Va.) was credited with his third win, tied for the team lead. He came in and did not allow an earned run over 2.2 innings while striking out two.
 
The five Virginia pitchers on the afternoon – Nate Savino (Sterling, Va.), Zach Messinger (Chandler, Ind.), Abbott, Whitten and Schoch – did not walk a batter in the contest.
 
The freshman duo of Max Cotier (New Milford, Conn.) and Chris Newell (Newtown Square, Pa.) combined to drive in two of the four Cavalier runs. As the second batter of the game, Cotier gave Virginia the early lead with a solo home run to right center, the first of his career. Newell had a pair of doubles, including a rope down the right field line in the fourth inning that scored Logan Michaels (DeForest, Wis.) and broke a 1-1 tie.
 
The Cavaliers tacked on a pair of unearned runs in the seventh to make the score 4-2. One came on a sacrifice fly by Michaels that plated Zack Gelof (Rehoboth Beach, Del.). Michaels came around in what proved to be the go-ahead run on a two-out Dartmouth throwing error.
 
Making his second career start on the mound for the Cavaliers, Savino tossed four innings of two-hit baseball. The lefty retired the last seven batters he faced and totaled four strikeouts. Extra-base hits by Ubaldo Lopez and Jordan Bustabad in the second inning accounted for the lone run Savino surrendered in the contest.
 
The Cavaliers will play one more non-conference opponent before beginning ACC play next weekend against NC State. Virginia will host Richmond on Tuesday (March 3) at 3 p.m.
 
Additional Notes
• The last time Virginia pitching staff did not issue a walk in a game was last season against Georgia Tech (March 16), a span of 51 games.
• Neither pitching staff walked a batter until Nic Kent (Charlottesville, Va.) and Max Cotier earned back-to-back free passes in the bottom of the seventh. Dartmouth walked a total of three batters in the game.
• The Cavaliers have won nine-straight against Dartmouth and are 15-5 in an all-time series that started in 1891.
• Michaels and Marc Lebreux (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) each have hit safely in five-straight games.
• Newell finished the series 7-for-12 (.583) with three doubles, a triple, a grand slam and eight RBI. He has reached base safely in eight straight and all but one game this season.