Virginia Tech Defeats Virginia, 7-3
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March 29, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team hosted the Virginia Tech Hokies this afternoon in front of 135 spectators at the UVa Baseball Field. The Cavaliers entered the game against the Hokies fresh off a 11-2 victory over Richmond on Tuesday and were looking for another victory today. However, Virginia Tech pulled out to an early 3-0 and increased their lead to as many as four runs en route to a 7-3 win over UVa.
The Hokies pulled out an an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Marc Tugwell (2-3, two runs) singled off Virginia pitcher Alexander “Shooter” Starr and later scored after Jed English (3-4, three RBI, run) hit a RBI-single to left-center field.
Virginia Tech added two more runs in the top of the third inning when Addison Bowman and Tugwell got things started in the inning by posting back-to-back singles with one out. Bowman scored the Hokies second run of the contest when English hit a RBI-double to center field, and Tugwell scored in VT’s next at-bat when Kevin Bice hit a RBI-sacrifice fly to right field to give Virginia Tech a 3-0 lead.
UVa scored its first run of the ballgame in the bottom of the fourth inning when Luis Giraldo (1-4, run) doubled to right field before scoring a run when Ben Himes (2-4, RBI) hit a RBI-single to right field in the Cavaliers next at-bat to make it a 3-1 game.
However, the Hokies answered right back with three unanswered runs of their own soon after. Virginia Tech scored one run in the sixth inning when Bice walked an eventually came around to score a run on an UVa error, before the Hokies gathered two more runs in the seventh inning after English and Chris Winterfeldt (1-4, RBI) hit back-to-back RBI-doubles to score two more runs, extending the Virginia Tech lead to 6-1.
The Cavalier tried to rally and scored two runs of their own in the top of the eight inning when Robbie Marvin (2-5, run) singled to reach first base before Jon Benick (1-4, two RBI, run) hit a two-run homerun to right-center field, making it a 6-3 contest.
But the Hokies added another run in the top of the ninth inning and held the UVa offense in check as Virginia Tech held on for a 7-3 victory.
Va. Tech pitcher Jason Bush improved to 4-3 on the year as he threw 7.1 innings and allowed three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. UVa’s Starr dropped to 1-3 after he pitched 3.2 innings and yielded three runs on six hits with three strikeouts.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 14-15-1 overall, while the win improves Virginia Tech’s record to 14-12-2 on the season.
The Cavaliers will return to home action when Virginia hosts the Florida State Seminoles in a three-game weekend series beginning with a 1:00 p.m. showdown with FSU on Saturday, April 1st. The Cavaliers and Seminoles will then complete the weekend series with a doubleheader on Sunday, April 2nd beginning at 12:00 noon. All three games will be played at the UVa Baseball Field.