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Virginia Baseball Falls to William & Mary, 10-5
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Feb. 27, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team dropped a 10-5 decision to the William & Mary Tribe this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field. The Cavaliers opened up an early 2-0 lead through three innings of play, but William & Mary scored 10 unanswered runs to gather the five-run victory.
After playing two innings of scoreless baseball, the Cavaliers jumped on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the third inning. UVa’s Robert Newton walked in Virginia’s first at-bat of the inning before Doug Vroman (1-3, RBI, run) hit an RBI-triple to right-center field to score Newton, giving the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead. One batter later, David Stone (1-4, RBI) hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Vroman, making it a 2-0 contest.
William & Mary cut Virginia’s lead to one run in the fourth inning on Brandon Harris’ run when he scored after being caught in a pickle with UVa third baseman Jon Benick and catcher Mark Rueffert. Harris was able to jar the ball loose from Rueffert in a diving attempt to score. The Tribe took its first lead of the game one inning later (fifth inning) when Harris again came through for the Tribe, this time after hitting a three-run homerun to left-center field to give William & Mary a 4-2 lead.
The Tribe extended their lead to 10-2 after scoring two runs in the seventh inning, three runs in the eighth inning and one run in the top of the ninth inning. However, Virginia made one last rally in the bottom of the ninth inning.
UVa’s Hunter Wyant (1-4, run) started the Cavaliers rally off with a double to center field before Dan Street (1-4, run) singled to center field, putting runs on the corners for Virginia. After Rueffert flied out to center field, Robert Word (1-4, 2 RBI, run) hit a two-run, RBI-triple to left field that scored Wyant and Street to make it a 10-4 game. Chris Sweet (2-4, RBI) kept UVa’s hopes alive by hitting an RBI-single that scored Word, cutting the Tribe’s lead in half at 10-5. After a walk by Vroman and a single by Stone to load the bases for the Cavaliers, Benick flied out to center field to end the game.
William & Mary’s Whitt Farr (4-2) gathered his fourth win of the season after nearly pitching a complete game by throwing 8.2 innings and allowing five runs on seven hits with a game-high five strikeouts. The Tribe’s Ben Shepard entered the game in relief and recorded his first save of the season. UVa’s Canon Hickman was dealt his first collegiate loss after allowing six runs (five earned) on six hits with three strikeouts. Will Parker (0.1 innings) and Alexander “Shooter” Starr (2.0 innings) came out of the bullpen for UVa in relief.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 5-2 overall, while the victory improves William & Mary’s record to 9-3 on the season. The Cavaliers will return to action on Wednesday, February 28th when Virginia travels to Richmond, Va. to face the Virginia Commonwealth Rams. The contest is scheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. and will be played at The Diamond. The Tribe will return to home action on Friday, March 2nd against New York Tech at 2:00 p.m. at Plumeri Park.
Game Scoring 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H EWilliam & Mary - 0 0 0 1 3 0 2 1 3 10 12 0Virginia - 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 5 8 2
WP- Farr (4-2).LP- Hickman (0-1).Save- Shepard (1).2B: UVa 3 – Wyant, Sweet, Rueffert.3B: UVa 2 – Wyant, Vroman.HR: W&M 1 – B. Harris.LOB: W&M 8, UVa 6.DP: UVa 1.SF: UVa – Stone.SH: W&M – Kirby (2).SB: None.CS: None.E: UVa 2 – Wyant, Rueffert.Attendance: 80.