No. 14 Virginia Tops Duke in ACC Opener

Friday, March 11

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

4:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia

Duke Faces Davidson, Campbell in Midweek Games

No. 14 Virginia Tops Duke in ACC Opener

3/11/2016 7:57:00 PM | Baseball

BASE vs. VIRGINIA: Pollard Postgame Interview Box Score (PDF)Box Score (HTML)

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – UVA right-hander Connor Jones tossed eight scoreless innings and catcher Matt Thaiss provided a three-run home run as Virginia topped Duke, 6-0, Friday evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the ACC opener for both teams.

Jones (3-0) scattered seven hits – all two-out singles – in the outing, striking out three without walking a batter. Seventy of Jones' 108 pitches went for strikes and the right-hander induced 13 groundball outs to keep the Blue Devils off the board.

Duke starter Bailey Clark (2-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing five runs on six hits over 5.2 innings. Clark walked a season-high four batters and struck out four.

Freshman Jimmy Herron and sophomore Jack Labosky had two hits each to lead a Blue Devil offense which totaled eight hits. Labosky has reached base in a team-high 13 straight games following today's two-hit performance.

“We put some good swings on the baseball tonight,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “We just didn't come up with that big hit when we had the opportunity with guys out there. [Connor] Jones threw the ball exceptionally well. We never expanded to get to a bad pitch. We swung at good pitches, but he was just all around the zone.”

Virginia (10-4, 1-0 ACC) totaled 10 hits in the contest and placed the leadoff man aboard in seven of nine innings. UVA left fielder Ryan Karstetter went 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI while center fielder Adam Haseley and second baseman Ernie Clement added two hits apiece.

Clark fought off early trouble, keeping Virginia off the board the first three frames despite UVA placing the leadoff man on in each of the initial three innings. In the top of the third, Karstetter tripled to right center to start the frame before Clark struck out the next two batters and induced a groundout to end the threat.

Virginia was able to finally break through in the fourth. Clark generated two pop ups after issuing a leadoff walk, but Nate Eikhoff delivered a two-out RBI single to end the scoreless tie.

Thaiss did the bulk of the damage the following frame, driving a ball over the right field wall with two outs to extend UVA's margin to 4-0. The home run, Thaiss' second of the season, followed a pair of two-out singles from Haseley and Clement.

The Cavaliers added to their lead with lone runs in the fifth and the eighth. Shortstop Daniel Pinero drew the fifth-inning leadoff walk, took second on a sacrifice bunt, moved to third on a wild pitch and crossed home on Doak Dozier's sac fly. Pinero ignited the rally in the eighth as well, singling before scoring on Karstetter's RBI base knock.

Redshirt sophomore James Ziemba yielded a run on three hits over 2.0 innings in relief, striking out three. Junior Kevin Lewallyn recorded the final four outs, allowing just one baserunner to reach.

Duke and Virginia return to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Saturday, March 11 for a 1 p.m., first pitch. The Blue Devils' Trent Swart (1-0) takes the mound opposite the Cavaliers' Daniel Lynch (1-1). Pregame coverage begins on GoDuke.com at 12:45 p.m.

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