No. 4 Virginia Eclipses Home Win Streak Record in Midweek Win

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 4 Virginia (23-2) won its 19^th consecutive game at home with an 8-2 victory over Richmond (12-9) on Tuesday (March 29). The streak dates back to the final three games of the 2021 season and includes UVA’s 16-0 mark at Disharoon Park this year.

Graduate student and two-way player Devin Ortiz earned the win and also went 2-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI at the plate. Making his fourth start on the mound this season, Ortiz logged four innings and struck out eight batters, one shy of matching his career-high. He allowed hits to the first two batters of the game and did not allow a runner to reach second base in his final three frames.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Ortiz helped himself in the first inning with an RBI double that scored Griff O’Ferrall and gave UVA a 1-0 advantage. The Cavaliers have scored in the first inning in 13 of the 25 games this season and improve to 21-0 when scoring first.
• Casey Saucke recorded his 24^th RBI of the season with a single in the second inning and the Cavaliers made 3-0 on an RBI infield single by Jake Gelof in the third. Gelof came into the contest with 46 RBI, the second most in college baseball.
• After Richmond plated an unearned run in the fifth, UVA responded with three of its own after nine batters came to the plate. Saucke and Ethan Anderson were credited with RBI in the frame.
• The final five innings of the game were finished by five UVA relievers. Matthew Buchanan, Dylan Bowers, Matt Wyatt and Will Geerdes combined for 3.2 shutout innings. The only hit surrendered by the Cavalier bullpen was an Andrew Papantonis home run off of Jay Woolfolk in the sixth. Each Cavalier reliever had one strikeout and the staff totaled 13 on the day.

FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN O’CONNOR

“It was good team win, it wasn’t our best played game of the year. The defense was not of the caliber that we’ve been playing but that happens from time to time. A sign of a good team is still to find a way to win. I thought, Devin Ortiz went out there and gave us a nice start for four innings and we knew we were going to throw all those guys out of the bullpen and chop the game up. I thought they all did a really nice job and a few different players contributed offensively.”

UP NEXT: Virginia will continue ACC play this weekend with a three-game series against No. 22 Georgia Tech. The series will begin on Friday (April 1) with a 6 p.m. first pitch. The middle game is slated for a 4 p.m. start and the series concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• When in the game as a pitcher and a hitter, Ortiz is 4-for-9 (.444), with six runs scored, two doubles, a home run and six RBI this season.
• The 19-game win streak bests Virginia’s 2008 squad that won its first 18 home games of the season. Only Tennessee (24 games) and North Carolina (20 games) have longer active home win streaks.
• With a single in the fifth inning, Alex Tappen extended his reached base streak to 24 games.
• The Cavaliers were held without a home run for only the second time this season at Disharoon Park. UVA had hit home runs in its previous nine games going into Tuesday’s contest.
• The contest saw a total of 15 pitchers between the two teams, nine Richmond hurlers and six from UVA.