Cavaliers Smoke Tribe to Open Charlottesville Regional

Things got off to a rocky start for the Cavaliers in their 13th straight NCAA Tournament appearance.

William and Mary got on the board quickly in the top half of the first inning thanks to a 1 out single and double. Fortunately, Alec Bettinger held the Tribe to just a single run, and the Hoos never looked back.

After being blanked in the first inning, UVa scored 9 unanswered runs to take a commanding lead into the 6th. The Tribe got a run back, but the Hoos hung four more in the bottom half to take a 13-2 lead. Wiliam and Mary would get two more via a home run before UVa would put two more on the board to finish up the 17-4 victory.

As mentioned, Bettinger got off to a rough start, but settled down quickly after that firing five more innings after the first. In all, the third year allowed two William and Mary runs on six hits and walk, while striking out four. David Rosenberger relieved Bettinger in the 7th and held the Tribe to just two runs on two hits and a walk. Truthfully, Rosenberger only got in trouble once, thanks to Charlie Cody's inability to rob a home run:

UVA's Charlie Cody robs a homer at the wall ... Except he didn't. Score one for the left field wall. #NCAABaseball pic.twitter.com/sLIKD08Ips

— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 3, 2016

The story of the day though had to be UVa's offense. The lineup scored 17 runs on 20 hits and four walks while only striking out once. Justin Novak, Cam Simmons, and Adam Haseley all had three hit days, while eight guys in total had a multi hit game. Ernie Clement had his first home run of the season and 2nd year Jack Gerstenmaier added one of his own.

With the win the Cavaliers advance in the winner's bracket of the regional to face the winner of tonight's Bryant - East Carolina game tomorrow night at 6PM on ESPN3. William and Mary will play the loser at 1PM Saturday.