Story Links
April 2, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team hosted the Florida State Seminoles in a doubleheader at the UVa Baseball Field this afternoon. FSU, ranked #1 in the country by Baseball America and in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll, was coming off a 9-6 win over UVa in Saturday’s contest. Today, Virginia pulled out a 2-1 come-from-behind victory in the first game of the doubleheader, before Florida State recorded a 10-4 victory in game-two to claim two of the three games in the weekend series.
In the first game of the afternoon, the Seminoles took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning after John Ford Griffin (3-5) hit a double down the right field line, and then scored in FSU’s next at-bat when Marshall McDougall (2-5) hit a RBI-single to center field to make it a 1-0 Florida State lead.
The score would remain 1-0 in favor of FSU through seven innings, as the starting pitchers for both teams battled it out. The Cavaliers’ Kevin Shrout threw 6.2 innings and allowed only one run on seven hits while striking out seven batters. The Seminoles’ Mike Ziegler pitched 7.2 innings and allowed two runs (zero earned) on six hits while striking out eight batters.
Virginia was able to hang around all game with Florida State before finally making a late charge, and took advantage of a game-winning opportunity in the bottom of the eighth inning. Trailing 1-0, the Cavaliers made their move when Jon Benick (2-4, run) singled to center field with one out in the inning. Luis Giraldo (1-3, run) then hit into what appeared to be a sure fielder’s choice for an out, but FSU’s 3B McDougall overthrew his teammate covering second base and Benick advanced to third base, putting runners on the corners for UVa. Virginia’s next batter, Tim LaVigne (1-3, RBI), hit a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Benick to make it a 1-1 game. After Giraldo stole second base and Ben Himes walked, Mark Rueffert (1-4, RBI) came through in the clutch and recorded a game-winning, RBI-single to right field to score Giraldo, giving the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead.
UVa’s LaVigne then moved from shortstop to the mound to pitch in the top of the ninth inning after he replaced teammate Jon Metzger, who posted three strikeouts after facing five batters. Metzger pitched 1.1 innings after relieving Shrout. LaVigne eventually retired the FSU side in the top of the ninth inning, and gathered his sixth save of the season as Virginia held on for a 2-1 victory. Metzger earned his second win of the season and improved to 2-2 on the year, while Ziegler was dealt his first loss if season, falling to 6-1 on the year.
In the second game of the doubleheader, Virginia jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after scoring two runs in the bottom of the third inning. After Himes (2-3, RBI, run) started the inning off with a double, David Stone (1-1, RBI, run) hit a RBI-double of his own two batters later to score Himes, giving the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead. In UVa’s next at-bat, Robbie Marvin (2-4, RBI) hit a RBI-single to center field to score Stone, giving Virginia a 2-0 lead.
But the Seminoles would answer right back with two, three-run innings of their own in the fourth and fifth innings, respectively. FSU’s three runs in the fourth inning were not the most conventional way to score runs, but they counted and Florida State quickly pulled ahead 3-2.
The Seminoles’ first run resulted after Karl Jernigan (3-5, two RBI, run) hit a double to center field, but the throw back to UVa pitcher Will Parker ended up in the Virginia dugout area, which allowed Jernigan to advance home to score a run. FSU’s next batter, Chris Smith (2-3, two runs), walked before Pichi Balet (1-3, two RBI, run) smacked a fly ball deep into the left field corner that was ruled just inside the foul poll, resulting in a two-run homerun. The hit was immediately challenged by the UVa coaching staff and several members of the Cavaliers baseball squad expressed their concern with the call. The Cavaliers’ head coach Dennis Womack, assistant coach Steve Heon and Virginia’s first baseman David Stone were ejected from the game due to their appeals. Never the less, the Seminoles came out of the inning on top by the score of 3-2.
Florida State added three more runs in the fifth inning when Ryan Barthelemy (2-5, three RBI, two runs) crushed a three-run homerun to right field off Parker, scoring teammates Griffin (2-5, run) who singled to right field, and McDougall (3-5, two runs), who singled to center field to reach base. Barthelemy’s homerun gave Florida State a 6-2 advantage.
Virginia scored a run two innings later in the bottom of the seventh inning when Himes hit a RBI-single to left field to score Rueffert (1-3, two runs) to make it a 6-3 contest.
However, FSU scored four more runs in the top of the ninth innings to pull out to a 10-3 lead. The Cavalier tried to mount another late comeback, but were only able to muster one run after Stephen Sweet (1-4, RBI) recorded his first career hit on a RBI-single to center field that scored Rueffert to make it a 10-4 game. The Seminoles would retire the Cavaliers’ side en route to recording a six-run win.
FSU pitcher Matt Lynch posted his fifth victory of the season as he improved to 5-0 on the year. Lynch pitched 6.2 innings and allowed three runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Daniel Hodges earned his second save of the season in relief. UVa’s Parker (4-1) was dealt his first loss of the season after the lefty threw 5.2 innings and allowed six runs on nine hits with four strikeouts. Alexander “Shooter” Starr threw 3.0 innings of relief in the loss.
With the split on the afternoon, Virginia’s record moves to 15-17-1 overall, 3-6 in the ACC. Florida State’s record moves to 31-5 overall, 9-3 in the conference.
The Cavaliers will return to home action when they host the Richmond Spiders on Tuesday, April 4th at 4:00 p.m. The contest is scheduled to be played at the UVa Baseball Field. The Seminoles will head to Jacksonville, Fla. to face Jacksonville on Wednesday, April 5th at 7:00 p.m.