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March 6, 2000
RICHMOND, Va. — After falling behind early, Virginia Commonwealth erased afour-run deficit, only to see Virginia retake the lead in its last at-batand hang on for an 8-7 victory on Monday night at The Diamond. It was theRams’ first loss in 11 home games this season.
The Cavaliers scored in each of the first three innings and led 4-0 in thethird before Virginia Commonwealth was able to get on the board. Firstbaseman Danny Lopaze (Lakeridge, Va.) singled home the Rams’ first run, inthe bottom of the third, then was brought home along with pitcher JasonDubois (Virginia Beach, Va.), who had walked prior to Lopaze’s base hit, ona triple by second baseman Brian Mohr (Petersburg, W.Va.). It was Mohr’sthird triple of the season and he now has twelve for his career, which istied for third on the school charts.
In the fifth inning, Virginia would score a single run to increase its leadback to two, 5-3. Virginia Commonwealth then scored four times in thebottom half of the inning to take the lead. The Rams pounded out fourextra-base hits in the inning, including a two-run home run by thirdbaseman Tim Allen (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) that gave Virginia Commonwealtha 7-5 lead.
Virginia would tie the game with two runs in its half of the seventhinning. Shortstop Tim LaVigne singled home the first run of the inning,then scored on a double by Luis Giraldo to knot the game at seven. TheCavaliers took the lead in the ninth when Todd Christensen, who entered thegame as a pinch-runner after a leadoff double by Jon Benick, scored fromthird on a single by Ryan Kalamaya. LaVigne then moved from shortstop tothe mound and pitched a perfect ninth inning to record the save. It was the14th save and 73rd appearance of his career, both school records.
The loss drops the Rams to 13-5 on the season, while the Cavaliers are now7-8-1. Virginia Commonwealth takes on another Atlantic Coast Conferenceopponent on Tuesday as the Rams travel to 20th-ranked Wake Forest. The gameis scheduled for a 3 p.m. start.