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March 19, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team turned a 9-4 deficit into a 13-9 victory over the visiting George Mason Patriots this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field. After the two team traded four runs each in the first three innings of play, GMU pulled out to a 9-4 lead in the top of the sixth inning before UVa scored nine unanswered runs in the last three innings as the Cavaliers posted their sixth win in their last seven contests.
The Patriots broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the fourth inning when Eddie Jordan hit an RBI-triple that scored teammate Jeff Palumbo from first base, making it a 5-4 GMU lead. George Mason held its one run lead for two innings before stretching the advantage to five runs in the top of the sixth inning. The Patriots’ Adam Shorts hit an RBI-double to score Scott Yeager before GMU scored a run on a UVa error and another run on a balk by pitcher Alan Zimmerer to make it a 8-4 lead. Brian Anderson’s RBI-single to left-center field scored George Mason’s last run of the game when Jordan came across the plate to push GMU’s lead to five runs.
Trailing 9-4, Virginia began its comeback by scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning when Andrew Riesenfeld (1-3, two RBI) hit a two-run, RBI-single to center field that drove in Jon Benick (1-4, three runs, RBI, home run) and Hunter Wyant (2-4, four runs, RBI, home run), to make it a 9-6 ball game.
The turning point in the contest came in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Cavaliers scored six runs on four hits to take control of the game. After a single by Robert Newton (2-4, run) and Benick reaching base after being hit by a pitch, the next three UVa batters (Wyant, Mark Rueffert and Dan Street) walked allowing Newton and Benick to pull the Cavaliers within one run at 9-8. Then, Virginia’s Robert Word (1-2, two RBI, run) entered the game as a pinch hitter and made his presence felt as he recorded the game-winning hit (a two-run, RBI-double to left field) that scored Wyant and Rueffert to give Virginia the lead at 10-9. Rueffert’s run turned out to be the eventual game-winning run after UVa extended its lead to 12-9 after D. Street (2-4, three RBI) scored on a wild pitch before Doug Vroman (1-4) hit an RBI-single to center field to drive in Word.
The Cavaliers’ Wyant hit a solo home run to left field in the top of the eighth inning to round out the scoring in UVa’s 13-9, comeback victory.
Virginia’s Jeff Kamrath (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory as a pitcher after replacing Zimmerer (who relieved Alexander “Shooter” Starr) by pitching 3.1 innings and allowing no runs or hits to close out the game. GMU’s Jesse Lipcius (0-1) took the loss after walking in two runs in the seventh inning.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 13-8 overall, while the loss drops George Mason’s record to 7-11 on the year. UVa has now won six of its last seven games.
The Cavaliers will return to home action on Tuesday, March 20th when UVa hosts the Virginia Commonwealth Rams. The contest is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m. and will be played at the UVa Baseball Field. The Patriots will return to home action on Wednesday, March 21st to host Massachusetts at 2:30 p.m.