No. 25 Hoos Even Series At No. 15 Stanford With 9-4 Win

PALO ALTO, Calif. – The Cavaliers were hot at the plate on Saturday (April 26), pounding out 13 hits and a pair of home runs as No. 25 Virginia (35-15, 14-9 ACC) downed No. 15 Stanford (34-10, 12-8 ACC) by a score of 9-4 at Stanford Stadium.

With the win, the Cavaliers evened the weekend series with the Cardinal. Jade Hylton also set the Virginia single-season home run record with one of the Hoos’ two home runs on the day.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Virginia scored in the first with an RBI double to the wall in left from Macee Eaton. Kelly Ayer scored on the two-out hit after reaching on a single and stealing second. The Cavaliers then doubled the lead with an RBI single in the third inning from Sydney Hartgrove to drive in Sarah Coon.

Stanford took the lead in the bottom of the third with a three-run home run with two outs from Kyra Chan.

Virginia responded in the top of the fourth with a three-run home run from Ayer. Kailyn Jones reached on a fielder’s choice before Stanford intentionally walked Jade Hylton to bring Ayer to the plate. Ayer drove the 1-0 offering deep to center to put the Cavaliers back on top 5-3.

The Hoos added two more runs in the sixth inning with a solo home run from Hylton and an RBI single from Sarah Coon. Stanford answered in the home half with a solo home run and the score stood 7-4 for the Hoos heading to the seventh.

Virginia pushed two more runs home in the top of the seventh with an RBI single to right from Kassidy Hudson and a groundout to second from Ayer to make it a 9-4 game.

Courtney Layne (4-0) picked up the win as she worked 2.0 innings in relief and allowed one hit and struck out one batter.

Kylie Chung (11-5) took the loss, allowing four runs – three earned – on six hits with two walks and a strikeout in 3.1 innings of work.

NOTING THE HOOS
• Jade Hylton set the Virginia single season home run in the sixth inning and has 16 for the year, passing the mark of 15 home runs set by All-American Lacy Smith in the 2019 season.
• Kelly Ayer’s home run in the fourth inning was her second of the season and both have come against California teams.
• With the home runs from Ayer and Hylton, the Hoos have now hit 61 home runs on the season.
• Macee Eaton brought her season RBI total to 57 which is one shy of tying the Virginia single-season mark of 58 set by All-American Kristen Dennis in 2002.
• With the win, Virginia hit 35 wins on the season which is the most wins since the 2004 team won 38 games.

FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA HARDIN
“I love how we responded after last night. It was a disappointing drop across the board, but to come out here ready to go and compete hard was big. Right after they took the lead, we scored right afterwards, and it was a great response by the team. We’ve talked about playing to our best and we saw a lot more of that today. The pitching staff has given us a great chance to win every game the last two or three weeks. On the offensive side, Kelly Ayer had a day with her three-run home run and Kelsey Hackett going 3-for-4 on the day, we’re just really passing the bat and giving us chances. I love when we’re really selfless. Putting up the nine runs was big. It’s good for us to go back to work and see what we did well today. We’ve seen all of their arms, so tomorrow is going to come down to throwing punches and finishing strong. We have a great opportunity in front of us and we want to pursue our best.”

UP NEXT FOR THE HOOS
Virginia and Stanford will conclude the series on Sunday (April 27) with first pitch set for 3 p.m. ET on ACCNX.