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Baseball Defeats Virginia Tech
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April 8, 1998
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Senior outfielder E.J. Anderson (Mechanicsville, Va.) hit a solo home run to right center field in the bottom of the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie and lead the University of Virginia baseball team to a 4-3 victory over Virginia Tech. The home run, Anderson’s eighth of the year, also extended his current hitting streak to 17 games. The Cavaliers improve to 19-14-1 on the season with the victory, while the Hokies fall to 18-13-2.
The Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, senior third baseman Brian Sherlock (Medford, N.J.) and Anderson both drew walks to give Virginia runners on first and second. Senior second baseman Ryan Gilleland (Forest, Va.) then hit a three-run home run to left center. The homer was the sixth of the season for Gilleland, who went 2-for-3 on the day.
Virginia Tech put its first run on the board in the top of the third inning. Gray Hodges led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Randy Martin. Eric Shiflett then hit a sacrifice fly to knock in Hodges and make the score 3-1.
The Hokies would then tie up the score with two more runs in the top of the sixth. Shiflett led off the inning by reaching on an error, then moved to second when Matt Griswold was hit by a pitch. Addison Bowman and Ryan Brittle both followed with RBI singles to make the score 3-3 heading to the bottom of the inning. Anderson would then lead off the Cavaliers’ half of the sixth with his home run to conclude the scoring.
Freshman righthander Tommy Keiper (Chesapeake, Va. ) picked up the win for Virginia to improve his record to 3-0 on the season. Keiper threw 3-1/3 innings of scoreless relief while allowing only one baserunner, on a bloop double by Shiflett in the seventh. Sophomore righthander Casey Kennedy (Boca Raton, Fla.) also pitched well for the Cavaliers, allowing only one run on three hits while striking out four in five innings, before leaving the game with a 3-1 lead. Lefthander Todd Zirkle took the loss for Virginia Tech, allowing four runs on six hits in seven innings.
Virginia returns to action on Friday, Apr. 10, when it begins a three-game series at Maryland with a 7:00 p.m. contest.
Virginia 4, Virginia Tech 3 R H EVT (18-13-2) 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 - 3 6 0UVa (19-14-1) 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 X - 4 6 3
VT: Todd Zirkle, Jason Beale (8) and Barry Gauch;
UVa: Casey Kennedy, Greg Withelder (6), Tommy Keiper (6) and Josh Bowling; 2B: Eric Shiflett (VT), Gray Hodges (VT); HR: E.J. Anderson (UVa), Ryan Gilleland (UVa). Win: Keiper (3-0); Loss: Zirkle (4-3).