UVa Baseball drops series finale to Monmouth, 6-4

The Cavalier baseball team was unable to finish off the sweep of Monmouth on Sunday falling, 6-4.

While the offense was able to pull of a miracle on Saturday afternoon to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat, it wasn't able to do so on Sunday. The offense did manage four runs on 13 hits, two walks, and three Monmouth defensive errors, but the 11 left on base was the likely nail in the coffin.

Despite the loss, there were some bright spots with four Cavaliers registering a multi-hit game, including first year outfielder Ryan Karstetter who also scored one of UVa's four runs.

Ultimately, the bullpen was unable to keep Monmouth off the scoreboard. Although it was not his best outing, Tommy Doyle was able to hold Monmouth to just four runs over six innings and striking out six.

After Doyle left the game after the sixth inning, fourth year David Rosenberger allowed the decisive two Monmouth runs to score. Fortunately, Jack Roberts was able to relieve Rosenberger and held the visitors scoreless over the final 1.2 innings.

Much will be made over the coming weeks and months on the bullpen problems UVa has come upon. During this weekend's series against Monmouth alone, the Cavaliers gave up 13 runs between the 7th and 9th innings. Only one of those runs came off of a starter; Connor Jones pitched into the 8th inning on Friday and gave up a single run before being relieved.

The Hoos will need to find a shutdown pitcher for the back third of the game or rough times could be in the future. With ACC play starting next weekend, the season starts to get much more real.