No. 13 Virginia Falls to No. 20 Duke 7-3 in Series Finale

The Cavaliers suffered their third ACC series loss in a row

Virginia baseball suffered its third-consecutive ACC series loss as the Cavaliers dropped the series finale to No. 20 Duke 7-3 on Sunday afternoon at Disharoon Park. 

After getting a brilliant start from Nick Parker in game 2, freshman starter Jack O'Connor could not find the same success against the Blue Devils in game 3. O'Connor got the first batter he faced to fly out, but then struggled with location as he proceeded to walk three-straight batters to load the bases. A single and a sacrifice fly scored two runs and then a double from Luke Storm scored another run to give Duke an early 3-0 lead. 

Alex Stone hit his third home run of the series in the top of the third and then the Blue Devils added two more runs in the fourth as UVA reliever Kevin Jaxel gave up a pair of RBI singles to make it 6-0. Duke starter Andrew Healy worked around a couple of baserunners in the second and third innings and exited the game after tossing three scoreless frames. Virginia managed to get on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Ethan O'Donnell drew a leadoff walk against Adam Boucher, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single from Kyle Teel. 

UVA continued to inch back into the game in the bottom of the sixth as Griff O'Ferrall reached base with an infield single and then Jake Gelof drove a ball deep to left center field for a two-run home run, his 18th homer of the season. 

Duke got one run back immediately in the top of the seventh as Roman DiGiacomo reached base on an error, moved to third on a single, and scored on a groundout to make it 7-3. Virginia threatened a comeback with an early baserunner in each of the final three frames, but couldn't string anymore hits together to capitalize as the Duke bullpen got the job done to seal the series victory. 

The loss drops Virginia to 35-11 overall and 13-11 in ACC play. The Cavaliers have lost each of their last three ACC series and seven out of their last nine ACC games. UVA hosts a pair of in-state non-conference games - against VCU on Tuesday and JMU on Wednesday - before getting a much-needed weekend off for final exams ahead of the final stretch of the regular season, which ends with a pair of ACC series against Louisville and at Georgia Tech. 

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