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March 5, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team pounded out 15 hits and scored 12 runs en route to a 12-1 victory over the U.S. Naval Academy. UVa’s Chris Sweet went 4-for-5 at the plate with three RBI’s and two runs scored and starting LHP Joe Koshansky pitched 6.0 innings and allowed only one unearned run with just three hits to lead the Cavaliers to their fourth win of the season.
Virginia jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Street hit a solo home run to left-center field in the Cavaliers’ first at-bat of the game before Chris Sweet and Mark Reynolds each singled on bunts before scoring a run later in the inning, giving UVa a three-run lead.
Virginia’s Kyle Werman singled to lead off the bottom of the second inning before he scored a run two batters later when Sweet connected on a RBI-single to push the Cavaliers’ lead to 4-0 after two innings of play.
UVa added four runs to its total in the bottom of the fourth inning when Werman doubled and scored a run before the trio of Street (single), Sweet (single) and Miguel Luina (single) also scored runs to give the Cavaliers an 8-0 lead. Sweet, Luina, Ryan Zimmerman and Tom Hagan all recorded RBI’s in the inning for UVa.
Navy scored its first run of the game in the top of the fifth inning when Will Mahan reached base on a Cavalier error before scoring on an RBI-single to right field by Pete Curnow to make it a 9-1 contest. Virginia added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Scott Headd scored a run from third base on a Navy error to give the Cavaliers back a nine run lead at 10-1.
Virginia added two more runs to close out the scoring in the bottom on the eighth inning when Eric Christensen drove in Luina (who reached base on a double) with an RBI-double to left-center field before Christensen scored a run himself on an RBI-single by Paul Gillispie, make the score 12-1.
UVa starting pitcher Joe Koshansky (1-0) picked up the win after his six-inning performance. He allowed only one run (unearned) on three hits with three strikeouts. Navy’s starting pitcher Matt Foster lasted only two innings and surrendered four runs (two earned) on five hits in a losing effort.
With the win, Virginia’s record improves to 4-5 overall, while the loss drops Navy’s record to 0-5 on the season.
The Cavaliers will return to home action on March 7-9 when Virginia hosts the Charlotte 49ers in a three-game, non-conference series. The Cavaliers will play the 49ers on Friday, March 7th at 3:00 PM; Saturday, March 8th at 2:00 PM and Sunday, March 9th at 12:00 noon. All three games will be played at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —