Baseball Defeats Penn State

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Feb. 22, 1998

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Sophomore catcher Josh Bowling (Springfield, Va.) went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI as the University of Virginia baseball team defeated Penn State 8-4. With the victory the Cavaliers completed a three-game sweeps of the Nittany Lions and improved their record to 5-1 on the season. Penn State falls to 1-5 with the loss.

The Cavaliers opened the scoring in the second inning, when senior second baseman Ryan Gilleland (Forest, Va.) scored from third on an RBI groundout by Bowling. Virginia then exploded for five runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 6-0 lead. After back-to-back singles by junior designated hitter Javier Lopez (Fairfax, Va.) and senior third baseman Brian Sherlock (Medford, N.J.), senior outfielder E.J. Anderson (Mechanicsville, Va.) hit an RBI single to center field to bring in one run. A second run scored on an RBI groundout by Gilleland, then sophomore first baseman Eric Snoddy (Charlottesville, Va.) drew a walk to give the Cavaliers runners on first and second with two out. Bowling then delivered a two-run double to right center, and later scored on an RBI single by junior outfielder Julian Gonzalez (Avon Park, Fla.) to account for the final UVa run of the inning.

Virginia increased the lead to 7-0 in the fifth inning when Bowling doubled and came in to score on another RBI single by Gonzalez, who finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI. The Cavaliers’ final run came in the sixth inning as Anderson, who went 3-for-4 on the day with two runs scored, walked and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Snoddy to make the score 8-0.

Penn State scored its first runs in the seventh inning, with Dan Beers delivering an RBI single, followed by an RBI double from Chris Netwall. The Nittany Lions scored their final two runs in the ninth inning, when Beers hit a solo home run, then Netwall walked and scored when Scott Boruta hit an RBI single.

Lopez, who was the Cavaliers’ starting pitcher in addition to playing designated hitter, turned in an excellent performance on the mound to improve his record to 2-0 on the season. Lopez struck out a career-high 11 batters while allowing only two runs on six hits in seven innings of work.

The Cavaliers return to the diamond on Wednesday, Feb. 25, when they play host to Virginia Military Institute at 3:00 p.m.

Virginia 8, Penn State 4

                                                                  R   H   EPenn State (1-5)    0  0  0  0  0  0  2  0  2   -   4   8   2Virginia (5-1)      0  1  5  0  1  1  0  0  X   -   8   11  1  

PSU: Greg Arnold, Chuck Romig (3), Shawn Fagan (6) and Chris Netwall; UVa: Javier Lopez, Brandon Creswell (8) and Josh Bowling;
2B: Chris Netwall (PSU), Eric Snoddy (UVa), Josh Bowling 2 (UVa);
HR: Dan Beers (PSU).
Win: Lopez (2-0); Loss: Arnold (0-2).