Virginia Baseball Blasts Its Way Past Old Dominion, 12-4

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The University of Virginia baseball team faced the Old Dominion Monarchs in the first contest of the Berkeley Electric Cooperative Challenge at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Behind five home runs, three by fourth-year Dan Street, Virginia cruised to a 12-4 victory over Old Dominion.

Virginia jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when David Stone belted a solo home run to left-center field in the Cavaliers’ first at-bat. Two innings later, Dan Street blasted a three-run shot to deep left field that scored Kyle Werman and Mark Reynolds to give UVa a 4-0 lead through three innings of play.

Old Dominion scored its first run of the game and cut Virginia’s lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Brent Sollenberger belted a solo home run to left field. However, the Cavaliers scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning when Shawn McCleary hit a two-run double to left field to score Joe Koshansky and Andrew Riesenfeld before D. Street belted another three-run home run, this time to right field to give Virginia a 9-1 lead.

The Monarchs added a run it the bottom of the seventh inning when Kevin Snapp scored on a throwing error by D. Street to make it a 9-2 contest. But UVa’s Riesenfeld blasted the Cavaliers’ fourth home run of the game when he hit a solo shot to center field to push Virginia’s lead to 10-2.

ODU made it a 10-3 contest in the bottom of the eighth inning when Sollenberger led off with a double to right-center before scoring two batters later on an RBI-single to left field by Ryan Harvey. But D. Street answered right back for UVa with his third home run of the game (UVa’s fifth of the contest), this time with a solo shot to left field to make it an 11-3 game. Riesenfeld lifted UVa to a 12-3 advantage when he hit an RBI-single to left field that scored Eric Christensen.

Old Dominion added a run in the bottom of the ninth when Dana Arrowood recorded the seventh home run of the contest with a solo shot to right field making the score 12-4. But that would be all the scoring the Monarchs would gather as UVa posted an eight-run victory.

UVa’s starting pitcher Jeff Kamrath improved his record to 2-0 after allowing only one run on five hits with four strikeouts through six innings on the mound. ODU’s James Burok (0-1) took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits to go along with four strikeouts.

With the victory, Virginia remains undefeated and improves its record to 4-0. Tthe loss drops Old Dominion’s record to 3-3 on the season. The Cavaliers will return to action on Saturday, February 23rd when UVa faces the Western Carolina Catamounts. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and will be played at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.