CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. -The Monmouth University baseball team fell to the University of Virginia, 7-1, in front of 2,736 people at Davenport Field Saturday afternoon.  With the loss, the Hawks fall to 3-2 on the year while the Cavaliers, who are ranked No. 17 in the USA Today/ESPN poll, improve to 4-1-1.

UVa broke the ice in third, scoring three runs on three hits while using the aid of a MU throwing error to jump ahead 3-0.

Jamie Rosenkranz (Oakhurst, N.J./Ocean Township)  began the top half of the fourth with a base hit to left and came all the way around to score on Owen Stewart's (Howell, N.J./St. Rose) double inside the third base bag to cut UVa's advantage to 3-1.

The Cavs answered right back in their half of the inning, plating a run on Chris Taylor's groundout to go back up by three and then continued their offensive attack two innings later with three more runs on Reed Gragnani's double with the bases-loaded to secure UVa's to 7-1 win.

Dan Smith (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) is tagged with the loss, his first of the season, working 5.0 innings yielding six runs on seven hits.  John McDonald (Langhorne, Pa./Conwell Egan Catholic) worked an inning out of the bullpen, striking out two batters, while Joe Loiodice (Forest Hill, Md./John Carroll) and Adam Yunginger (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) each worked a 1-2-3 inning in relief.

The Hawks scattered three hits against Virginia's starter, Scott Silverstein, who earned the win for the Cavs.  The lefty hurler allowed one run and two walks, but struck out eight MU batters in 7.0 innings to claim his first victory.

Monmouth and Virginia will conclude its three-game series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.