CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In both the sixth and seventh innings of its Sunday afternoon matchup versus Rutgers (1-5, 0-0 Big Ten), the no. 13 UVA Baseball Team (7-0, 0-0 ACC) sent 12 batters to the plate, pushing across eight runs in the sixth and seven runs in the seventh en route to an 18-2 victory and a series sweep.
A back and forth game through five and a half innings was blown wide open in the bottom of the sixth.
The Hoos plated two runners in the bottom of the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead, but Rutgers battled right back, blasting solo shots in both the second and third innings to even the score.
After an Ernie Clement solo blast in the bottom of the third, the Hoos held a one-run advantage.
In the bottom of the sixth, the once-close game exploded as if it was a ticking time bomb whose timer had just hit triple zeros.
“I was very proud of our offensive ballclub and the adjustment that we made after the first half of the game,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said postgame. “Starting in the sixth inning, I thought we made a nice adjustment from an offensive standpoint and certainly put up a lot of good at bats.”
Pavin Smith lead off the bottom of the sixth with a walk and was immediately brought home on a Robbie Coman 2-run homer on the next pitch.
Following a pitching change, Cam Simmons and Nate Eikhoff both reached on throwing errors and were plated on a Charlie Cody double down the left field line.
With four runs across in the sixth, and still no outs, the Hoos held a 7-2 advantage.
A pair of singles, a pair of hit batters, and a pair sacrifice flies later and Virginia’s lead jumped to nine.
Eikhoff started off the bottom of the seventh with a single to center. The ensuing batters reached on a hit-by-pitch and a walk, respectively, and Eikhoff was brought around to score on a Jake McCarthy fielder’s choice.
Clement, who led the team with three hits on the day, singled up the middle for his fourth RBI of the day.
A Pavin Smith single brought in another run for UVA, as did an RBI groundout by Drew Blakely. A Simmons double followed by a single by Eikhoff tallied three more runs for the Hoos, resulting in an 18-2 lead.
Jack Roberts and Riley Wilson combined to record the final six outs of the game on the mound for Virginia, securing the 16-run victory.
Adam Haseley began the day on the bump for UVA, giving Coach O’Connor seven strong innings, surrendering only three hits and two runs while striking out six.
“Adam Haseley was really great today. That looked like the Adam Haseley who pitched so well for us last year and won nine games. We played really good infield defense again today and throughout the series. In our league, if you don’t throw strikes, pitch well and play good defense, it’s tough to win. We did that this weekend, so there are a lot of positives that came out of this series,” said O’Connor after the game.
Virginia will host William and Mary on Tuesday at 3 p.m. before hosting La Salle and Niagara in a tournament here in Charlottesville next weekend.
