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April 26, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team returned to home action and hosted the UNC-Greensboro Spartans in a doubleheader this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field. The Cavaliers posted a 1-0 shutout victory in the first game before the Spartans recorded a 15-5 win over UVa in game two. Both games of the doubleheader were seven inning contests.
UVa pitcher Dan Street improved his record to 2-0 as a pitcher as the right-hander threw a two-hitter over six innings of play. Street tallied four strikeouts and allowed zero runs as he guided Virginia to its first shutout victory of the season. Senior closer Tim LaVigne moved from shortstop to pitcher in the seventh inning and recorded his seventh save of the season in relief duty.
The Cavaliers scored the lone run of the game in the bottom of the second inning when Luis Giraldo walked and eventually scored the game-winning run after Ryan Kalamaya (1-2) hit a RBI-single to center field to put UVa ahead 1-0. That would be all the scoring Virginia would need to post its 20th win of the season.
UNCG’s Everett Hancock pitched a superb game himself as the left-hander went the distance (seven innings) and allowed only one run on two hits while striking out two batters. He fell to 5-5 with the loss.
The Spartans made sure right from the start of the first inning of game two that the Cavaliers were not going to enjoy a sweep in the doubleheader. UNCG scored seven first inning runs to pull out to an early 7-0 lead and never looked back. UNC-Greensboro scored six more runs and recorded three more hits in the first inning alone than it did in the entire first game.
The Spartans duo of Jeremy Purcell (3-5, two RBI, two runs) and Nick Gonzalez (3-5, three RBI, run, homerun) each recorded three hits, while teammates Kyle Tasco (2-5, two RBI, two runs) and Jesse Martin (2-3, two runs, RBI) added two hits apiece in the 15-5 win.
Virginia trimmed UNC-Greensboro’s lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the first inning after LaVigne (1-3, two RBI, run) hit a two run, RBI-double to left field that scored Giraldo (1-2) and Jon Benick (1-3). However, UNCG went on to outscored UVa 8-3 over the next six innings to post its 30th victory of the season.
The Cavaliers’ Tommy Keiper pitched only 0.2 inning before surrendering seven runs (four earned) on six hits in limited action. He was dealt his third loss of the season and his pitching record dipped to 0-3. The Spartan’s Taft Cable improved to 9-4 this season as the pitcher as he allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits to go along with four strikeouts through four innings of play.
With the split on the afternoon, Virginia’s record moves to 20-26-1 on the season, while UNC-Greensboro moves to 30-17 on the year.
Virginia will return to action on Friday, April 28th when the Cavaliers travel to College Park, Md. to face the Maryland Terrapins in a three-game weekend Atlantic Coact Conference series. The first game of the series is scheduled for Friday at 7:00 p.m., game two is scheduled for Saturday, April 29th at 7:00 p.m. and the third game is scheduled for Sunday, April 30th at 1:00 p.m.
UNC-Greensboro will host Furman in a three-game weekend series (April 28-20) beginning with a 7:00 p.m. start on Friday, April 28th.