No. 7 Virginia Rides Early Offense to 16-4 Victory Over Mount St. Mary's

After putting up 18 runs in a seven-inning run rule victory over Richmond on Tuesday, the UVA bats stayed hot the very next day as No. 7 Virginia scored 12 runs in the first three innings and cruised to a 16-4 victory over Mount St. Mary's on Wednesday afternoon at Disharoon Park.

Although the game would eventually turn into a blowout victory for the Cavaliers, the Mountaineers threw and landed the first punch of the game. Against UVA freshman Cullen McKay, who was making just his second start of the season, Mount St. Mary's managed to score three runs in the top of the first. The first run came on an error by McKay and then Brady Drawbaugh hit a two-run home run to center field to give Mount St. Mary's a 3-0 lead.

Virginia didn't stay down for long. Mountaineer starter Danny Salisbury issued two walks and then hit a batter to load the bases with one out. Salisbury then hit Ethan Anderson to bring home UVA's first run and walked Anthony Stephan to make it 3-2. Mount St. Mary's replaced Salisbury with Luke Pryor, who was able to get the ball over the plate, but Casey Saucke punished him with a two-run double to left field, giving the Hoos the lead for good. Henry Godbout then took the first pitch he saw into the gap in left-center field for another two-run double. Griff O'Ferrall and Ethan O'Donnell followed that up with back-to-back RBI singles and then O'Donnell came around to score on a wild pitch, capping a first inning that saw Virginia score nine runs on just four hits.

After a scoreless second inning, Mount St. Mary's put runners on the corners with no outs, causing Virginia to pull McKay from the game in favor of Chase Hungate, who allowed one run to score on a double play, but needed just seven pitches to get out of the jam with no further damage.

Once again, the Cavaliers responded right away in the bottom of the third. Harrison Didawick drew a leadoff walk, stole second, moved to third on an O'Ferrall single, and scored on a sacrifice fly by O'Donnell. After becoming UVA's all-time home run leader on Tuesday, Jake Gelof built on that record with his 39th-career homer and his fifth in the last five games, a two-run shot off the batter's eye in center field that gave Virginia a 12-4 lead.

🔥 Five game, five homers. 🔥@JakeGelof is on a tear, his 14th 💣 of the season!

📺: ACCNX | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/mUT229176w
— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) April 12, 2023

In a scheduled bullpen day for the UVA pitching staff, the Cavaliers successfully kept the Mountaineers off the board for the remainder of the game. Hungate, Angelo Tonas, Jacob Horodrovich, Bradley Hodges, Avery Mabe, and Matthew Buchanan combined to throw seven scoreless innings. Hungate allowed just one hit in 2.1 innings and was credited with his third win of the season, while Mabe was lights out in his one inning, striking out the side in the eighth.

Griff O'Ferrall was 3 for 5 with two runs and two RBI and extended his streak of reaching base safely to 24 games. 10 different Cavaliers registered an RBI in the game.

With the win, Virginia improves to 30-4 overall this season, 22-0 at home, and 19-0 in non-conference play. Up next, UVA remains at home to host Pittsburgh for a three-game series, beginning with game 1 on Friday at 6pm at Disharoon Park.

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