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March 23, 2001
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team recorded an 8-7 victory over the N.C. State Wolfpack this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field. Virginia opened up a 7-1 lead after six innings before N.C. State scored six unanswered runs to tie the contest at 7-7 in the top of the ninth inning. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, UVa’s Dan Street (2-5, two RBI) hit an RBI-single to left field that scored teammate Eric Christensen (2-2, run) to give the Cavaliers a one-run victory.
The Wolfpack jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when David Hicks (2-5, RBI) hit an RBI-single to left field to score Brian Wright (2-5, two runs). Virginia tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second inning before pulling out to a 5-1 lead in the bottom of the third inning. Back to back RBI-singles by Hunter Wyant (1-3, RBI, run) and Mark Rueffert (2-5, two runs, RBI) gave UVa a 3-1 lead before D. Street and Robert Word (2-3, RBI) hit RBI-singles to extend the Cavaliers lead to four runs.
Virginia’s David Stone (1-3, RBI, run) gave the Cavaliers a 6-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when he scored Doug Vroman (1-4, two runs) on a sacrifice bunt. Vroman scored UVa’s next run two innings later in the bottom of the sixth inning on a wild pitch by NCSU’s Corey Mattison to give Virginia a 7-1 lead.
But N.C. State made a late rally in the final three innings of play. After scoring a run in the top of the seventh inning to make it a 7-2 contest, the Wolfpack scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning on two home runs to make the score 7-5. NCSU’s Colt Morton (2-5, 3 RBI, run) hit a solo home run to right-center field in N.C. State’s first at-bat before Jamey Shearin (2-5, two RBI, run) hit a two-run homer to right-center field to pull the Wolfpack within two runs.
N.C. State tied the game at 7-7 in the top of the ninth inning when Morton hit a two-run, RBI-double down the left field line. However, Christensen led off UVa’s first at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with a single to center field before scoring the game-winning run on Street’s hit.
The Cavaliers Chris Marinak (1-0) earned his first victory of the season after pitching only 0.2 innings, while the Wolfpack’s Mike Sollie (2-1) took the loss after 1.0 inning of work.
With the win, Virginia’s record improves to 14-9 overall, 3-4 in the ACC. The loss drops N.C. State’s record to 11-12 overall, 3-4 in the conference.
The Cavaliers and Wolfpack will return to action on Saturday, March 24th at 2:00 p.m. at the UVa Baseball Field.
– UVa –