Teel Hits Grand Slam, No. 19 Virginia Beats Rider 14-4
After suffering their first loss of the season at Duke on Sunday, the Cavaliers bounced back quickly and picked up a 14-4 victory over Rider on Tuesday evening at Disharoon Park.
In the first of a two-game mid-week series with the Broncs, No. 19 Virginia got off to a fast start on a Kyle Teel grand slam in the bottom of the third inning, his second grand slam of the season.
The long balls continued to fly for the Cavaliers in the bottom of the fourth as Chris Newell and Casey Saucke hit back-to-back solo homers to left-center field on consecutive pitches. Kyle Teel tripled and scored on a Jake Gelof single and then Devin Ortiz scored on an Alex Tappen single to stretch the UVA lead to 9-0.
Freshman lefty Matthew Buchanan got the start for Virginia and delivered 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up just one hit and one walk and recording six strikeouts. Dylan Bowers replaced Buchanan in the fourth and struck out three batters, but gave up two runs in two innings of work.
The Broncs got on the board with a solo home run from Jordan Erbe in the top of the fifth and then scored again on an RBI double by Brian Skettini in the sixth.
READ MORE: Virginia's Nate Savino Named ACC Pitcher of the Week
The Cavaliers got back one run in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single from Devin Ortiz that gave UVA double-digit runs for the 11th time this season. Two innings later, Ortiz struck again as he hit Virginia's fourth home run of the game, a two-run shot to right field. UVA scored two more unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore Avery Mabe came in to pitch for the Cavaliers in the bottom of the sixth and went the rest of the way, giving up two runs on five hits and striking out three batters in 3.1 innings, earning the save.
With the win, Virginia improves to 15-1 on the season. The Cavaliers play the Broncs again on Wednesday at 4pm at Disharoon Park.
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