No. 2 Cavaliers Top Villanova On Saturday Night

PONCE, P.R. – On the second day of the Puerto Rico Challenge, the No. 2 Virginia baseball team (1-1) prevailed 3-1 over the Villanova Wildcats (1-1) on Saturday (Feb. 15) at Estadio Francisco Montaner.

Virginia starting pitcher Bryson Moore did not surrender a hit over his first five innings of work and struck out a career-high, six batters in 5.2 innings of work but did not factor into the decision. In his UVA debut, Drew Koenen (0.1 IP) was credited with the win for the Cavaliers and Matt Lanzendorfer (1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 SO) grabbed his first save in a Virginia uniform.

Freshman James Nunnallee led the Virginia attack on Saturday night by going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. At the top of the lineup, Eric Becker (2-for-4, BB) and Henry Godbout (2-for-4, 2 RBI, SB) each had two-hit performances while Godbout also drove in a pair of runs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• To open the contest, Moore retired the first 10 batters he faced before allowing back-to-back one-out walks in the fourth inning. The sophomore got out of the jam with a double-play ball to keep the game scoreless.
• After Moore sat down the side in order during the top of the fifth, Nunnallee jumped started the Virginia offense with a leadoff double in the bottom of the frame. He scored two batters later on an RBI single to the left-center gap by Godbout to put UVA up 1-0.

• An inning later, Koenen relieved Moore with two runners on and two away in the frame. Koenen limited the damage to a run and a tied game after Villanova’s Jason Neff overran first base on an RBI single and was tagged out.
• Virginia took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth with a pair of two-out RBI singles from Nunnallee and Godbout that made gave the Cavaliers a 3-1 advantage.
• Lanzendorfer entered the contest with the bases loaded in the top of the eighth and got a ground ball to end the inning before throwing a scoreless ninth to seal the win.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Chris Arroyo made his Virginia pitching debut in the seventh inning. The junior tossed 1.1 innings of scoreless one-hit ball with a pair of strikeouts.
• With the win, Virginia moves to 5-2 all-time against Villanova and the Cavaliers have won four-straight over the Wildcats dating back to 2019.

UP NEXT

Virginia will close out the Puerto Rico Challenge on Sunday with a 4 p.m. ET first pitch against Rice. Lefty Tomas Valincius is set to make his collegiate debut on the mound for the Cavaliers against fellow southpaw  J.D. McCracken.