Another solid day of double-duty for Devin Ortiz (5-1), who gave up one run on four hits with a walk and five strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings on the mound, and went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored at the plate.
UVA finished with 12 hits as a team. All nine players in the lineup had at least one; Jake Gelof and Alex Tappen joined Ortiz with two-hit nights. Gelof drove in a pair of runs with a single to left with the bases loaded in the fifth inning, raising his NCAA-leading total to 53.
Gelof also gave the Dish crowd a scare with an awkward slide as he was thrown out at home plate to end the sixth inning. The stadium was hushed as Gelof stayed down for a few seconds and was slow to get up, but he remained in the game.
Ethan Anderson broke a 1-1 tie in the fourth with an RBI double to right. The Hoos tacked on three more in the fifth on Gelof’s two-run single and a squeeze bunt by Chris Newell. Tappen drove in a run with an infield single on the play where Gelof was thrown out at home in the sixth. The final UVA run came on a Max Cotier RBI single in the seventh.
Dylan Bowers looked sharp in 1 1/3 innings out of the bullpen in relief of Ortiz, striking out a pair and making a nice play on a ball down the third base line to end the sixth.
Matt Buchanan struck out the side in the seventh and two more in the eighth, and only gave up one run in his two innings of work—a solo homer by Liberty’s Derek Orndorff. That’s the first run the freshman lefty has allowed in 15 1/3 innings this season.
Avery Mabe worked around a one-out error to throw a scoreless ninth.
