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Feb. 27, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – After going winless in its first sevencontests of the 2000 season, the University of Virginia baseball team hasnow won three consecutive games after posting a 13-2 victory over theBucknell Bison at the UVa Baseball Field this afternoon. The Cavaliersalso defeated the Bison by the scores of 6-1 and 5-4 in yesterday’sdoubleheader, giving Virginia a three-game sweep in the weekend series overvisiting Bucknell.
The Bison jumped on the scoreboard first when Bucknell took anearly 2-0 first inning lead. Ian Joseph (1-4, run) started the game offwith a double to center field. Then, three batters later, Frank Fresconi(1-4, two RBI, run) blasted a two-run homerun that scored Joseph to make it2-0 Bucknell. However, that would be all the scoring in the game for theBison, as it was all Virginia from that point on.
The Cavaliers would answer Bucknell’s early scores with three runof their own in the inning en route to scoring 13 unanswered runs followingthe Bison’s early 2-0 lead. After Bucknell’s pitcher Ed Soley walked twobatters and hit another with a pitch to load the bases, he then walkedUVa’s Tim LaVigne (2-3, three RBI, two runs) and Ben Himes (RBI, run) totie the game at 2-2. The Cavaliers’ Luis Giraldo then hit into a fielder’schoice that scored Jon Benick (1-4, two runs) to give Virginia a 3-2 leadthrough one inning of play. UVa would not relinquish its first lead of thegame and would go on to score 10 more runs in the game.
The Cavaliers added three more runs in the third inning when HunterWyant (1-3, three runs) started the inning off with a double to left field.Hunter advanced to third when Benick flied out to center field, and thenscored in Virginia’s next at-bat when LaVigne singled to center field tomake it a 4-2 contest. LaVigne then stole second base before scoring on anRBI-single to center field by Giraldo to make it a 5-2 UVa lead. Giraldothen stole second base and later advanced to third on a wild pitch beforescoring on a Mark Rueffert (2-3, two RBI, run) RBI-double to right field,pushing the Cavaliers lead to 6-2 after three innings of play.
Virginia would hold onto its 6-2 lead over the next three inningsbefore exploding for seven runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. DavidStone started the inning off with a walk before stealing second base andadvancing to third base on a wild pitch. The next batter, Wyant, reachedfirst base on a Bucknell error before moving to second base on anotherBison error to give the Cavaliers runners on third and second base withzero outs. After a Benick single to load the bases, LaVigne singled toright field in Virginia’s next at-bat scoring Stone and Wyant to give UVa a8-2 advantage. Himes was then hit by a pitch to load the bases for UVaagain. Giraldo, the next Virginia batter, singled to right field to scoreBenick to make it a 9-2 UVa lead. Rueffert kept the Cavalier inning movingalong with a single over second base to score LaVigne, making it a 10-2contest. Michael Floyd (1-4, two RBI) joined in on the Cavaliers biginning by hitting a single to left field to score Giraldo and Rueffert,before Dan Street (1-3, two RBI, run) singled to left field himself toscore Rueffert, giving Virginia a 13-2 lead. The Cavaliers would hold theBison scoreless in the next two innings to post their third win of theseason as UVa swept the three-game series with BU.
Jon Metzger (1-2) recorded his first win of the season as hepitched seven strong innings for UVa. Metzger allowed only two runs onfour hits while striking out five batters.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 3-6-1 overall,while the loss drops Bucknell’s record to 0-3 on the season. UVa will nowtravel to Williamsburg, Va. to face the William & Mary Tribe in anon-conference game on Tuesday, February 29th at 3:00 p.m.
Bucknell 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 2Virginia 3 0 3 0 0 0 7 0 X - 13 11 0
WP- Metzger (1-2).LP- Soley (0-1).Save-None.2B: UVa 2 – Wyant, Rueffert, BU 2 – Joseph, Fishman.3B: None.HR: BU 1 – Fresconi, UVa 0.LOB: UVa 8, BU 4.DP: UVa 3, BU 2.SB: UVa 3 – Stone, LaVigne, Giraldo.CS: None.E: BU 2 – Peck, McDowell, UVa 0.Attendance: 126.Time: 2:27.
Note: Virginia swept the three-game series with Bucknell.