Cavaliers Now

Valincius Shines, Virginia Bats Deliver, UVA Baseball Thumps Dartmouth 11-1

Matthew Newton|
Virginia Athletic

Tomas Valincius delivered his third quality start in as many games to begin his collegiate career, the UVA bats had their best game of the season with 11 runs on 18 hits, and No. 10 Virginia baseball (6-3) clinched the series victory with an 11-1 win over Dartmouth (0-5) on Saturday afternoon at Disharoon Park.

Virginia drew first blood in the bottom of the first as Eric Becker hit a leadoff double, moved to third on a groundout, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Arroyo. Freshman lefty Tomas Valincius retired the side in order in the first, struck out the side to strand two runners in scoring position in the second, but then gave up an RBI double in the third to tie the game. But that would be the only run surrendered by Valincius and the Cavalier pitching staff.

Similarly, the scoreless second and third frames proved to be the only innings without runs scored for the Virginia offense, which blew the game open with a five-spot in the bottom of the fourth. Harrison Didawick and freshman Chone James delivered back-to-back RBI singles and then Becker hit a ground-rule double to left-center field to score two more runs.

Henry Godbout hit a double of his own and then Becker scored on a passed ball to make it a 6-1 game. James hit another RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and then Chris Arroyo hit his third home run of the season, a solo shot on a 3-0 pitch that cleared the balcony in right field in the bottom of the sixth to make it an 8-1 ball game.

Virginia tacked on two more runs in the eighth as Walker Buchanan hit a leadoff, pinch-hit single and eventually came home on a double-steal and then Jackson Sirois scored Luke Hanson with an RBI single. Buchanan singled in the following inning as well, advancing Aiden Harris to third base so that he could come home on a groundout from James in the next at-bat for Virginia's 11th run.

From a pitching standpoint, Valincius settled back in after giving up a run in the third and put up two more zeroes on the board, struck out three more batters, and allowed only two more baserunners. He finished his third start of the season with a final stat line of one earned run on seven hits, one walk, and nine strikeouts in five innings pitched. For the season, Valincius is 2-0 with 25 strikeouts to just three walks and a 2.12 ERA in 17.0 innings pitched.

Kevin Jaxel pitched the sixth and seventh, working around a couple of baserunners in the seventh to keep the Big Green off the board, and then William & Mary transfer Alex Markus closed out the win in the eighth, as UVA triggered a run-rule by being up 11-1 to end the game before the ninth inning.

Eric Becker led the way for the Cavaliers offensively, going 3 for 4 with two doubles, two RBI, and two runs scored and four other Wahoos had multi-hit performances, including Chone James, who went 2 for 3 with three RBI.

Virginia will look to complete the series sweep in game 3 with Dartmouth on Sunday at 12pm ET (ACC Network Extra) at Disharoon Park.

More Virginia Baseball News

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Matt Newton
MATTHEW NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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