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April 19, 2000
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Virginia Tech posted a 7-6 baseball victory against the University of Virginia on Wednesday when third baseman Chad Foutz was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning forcing home the winning run.
Sophomore first baseman John West led off the decisive 10th inning for Tech with a base on balls. An attempt to retire pinch runner Christian Simmers at second on a sacrifice bunt by Gray Hodges was unsuccessful, giving the Hokies runners at first and second with no outs. Freshman shortstop Spencer Harris followed with an infield single to load the bases. Virginia reliever Shooter Starr hit Foutz with his next delivery to force home Simmers and end the game.
Both teams erased deficits to finish the regulation nine innings in a 6-6 deadlock. Tech jumped to a 4-0 advantage after three innings with catcher Kevin Bice, center fielder Brad Bauder and right fielder Chris Winterfeldt contributing RBI singles. Virginia cut the lead to 4-2 on run-scoring singles by left fielder David Stone and catcher Mark Rueffert in the fifth and sixth innnings, respectively. A two-run double by UVa shortstop Tim LaVigne tied the game in the seventh, and center fielder Michael Floyd followed with another double to give the Cavaliers a 5-4 advantage.
Tech (25-15-2) tied the game in the bottom of the seventh when freshman second baseman Marc Tugwell doubled and scored. The Hokies regained the lead briefly in the eighth inning when left fielder Addison Bowman doubled home Hodges. Virginia responded quickly in the top of the ninth, tying the game on a single by Floyd and loading the bases with one out. Tech avoided further damage when reliever Anthony Miller coaxed Rueffert to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Miller, who pitched the final three innings for Tech, got the pitching victory and now stands at 2-1 on the season. Starr, who entered the game to start the 10th inning, fell to 1-4 with the loss.
Virginia (17-23-1) lost the game despite collecting 17 hits. LaVigne was 4-for-4 on the day with two RBIs and two runs scored, while Rueffert finished 4-for-5 with a run scored and a run batted in. Floyd added three hits and three RBIs for the Cavs.
Tech got two doubles from Bowman. Bice and Harris also finished with two hits for the Hokies, who are scheduled to play at James Madison on Thursday at 3 p.m.
UVa 000 011 301 0 -- 6 17 1VT 202 000 110 1 -- 7 10 0
Keiper, Parker (1), Marinak (5), Street (7), Starr (10) and Rueffert.
Runyon, Rudolph (7), Miller (8) and Bice.
W- Miller (2-1)
L- Starr (1-4)