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March 12, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team defeated the #25 ranked UNC Greensboro Spartans for the second time in as many days following a 14-6 decision this afternoon at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Field. The Cavaliers fell behind early by the score of 2-0 after two innings of play, but it was pretty much all Virginia after that as the Cavaliers scored 14 of the next 18 runs in the game to post back-to-back wins over a ranked opponent to remain undefeated at home at 7-0. The Cavaliers’ increased their win streak to seven consecutive games with today’s victory.
The Spartans took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Jason Sarvis (single) and Justin Saltalamacchia (double) recorded hits and each scored a run on RBI’s by Ryan Gordan (ground out) and Kirk Strebin (double).
However, Virginia regained the lead in the bottom of the third inning and responded by pounding out seven hits and scoring five runs to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead. UVa tied the game at 2-2 when Mark Reynolds connected on a two-run, RBI-single to left field that drove in Kyle Werman (walk) and Matt Street (single) before the trio of Ryan Zimmerman, Tom Hagan and Chris Sweet all connected with RBI-singles to drive in three runs, giving Virginia a 5-2 lead after three innings of play.
The Cavaliers extended their lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning when Werman scored from third base after an error on a failed pickoff attempt on UVa’s Matt Dunn at second base by UNCG shortstop David Adams, his second error of the game.
Virginia pushed its lead to 9-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Reynolds connected on a three-run home run to left field. The home run was Reynolds’ second of the season and was UVa’s first multiple-run home run of the year.
The Spartans added three runs in the top of the seventh inning when Saltalamacchia hit a bases loaded double to left-center field that drove in three runs to make the score 9-5 after six and a half innings of play.
But the Cavaliers came right back and added three runs of their own in the bottom of the seventh inning, highlighted by a two-run triple to right field by Joe Koshansky to make the score 12-5.
UNCG tacked on a run in the top of the eighth inning when Pete Hernandez scored a run after a bases loaded fielders choice, cutting UVa’s lead in half at 12-6. But the Cavaliers added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning when Werman hit a two-run single to left-center field to drive Sweet and Headd, extending Virginia’s lead to 14-6 after eight innings of play.
UVa’s Koshansky (2-0) picked up his second win of the season after starting and pitching 6.0 innings. Koshansky allowed just two runs on seven hits with a game-high five strikeouts. UNCG’s starting pitcher Scooter Michael (3-2) lasted only 2.2 innings and surrendered five runs on 10 hits with one strikeout in the loss.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 9-5 overall. The loss drops UNC Greensboro’s record to 14-3 on the season. The Cavaliers won the two game series, two games to none after also posting a 12-5 win on Tuesday.
Virginia will return to action on March 14-16 when the Cavaliers travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to face the Florida State Seminoles in a three-game, Atlantic Coast Conference series. UVa will face FSU on Friday, March 14th at 6:00 PM, Saturday, March 15th at 6:00 PM and Sunday, March 16th at 1:00 PM. All three games will be played at Florida State’s Dick Howser Stadium.
— UVa —