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March 21, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team scored early and often as UVa pounded out 23 hits, scored 13 runs and cruised to a 12-run victory to pick up its first Atlantic Coast Conference win of the season over the visiting Duke Blue Devils in front of 386 spectators at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Virginia scored 10 of its first 13 runs of the game with two outs on the board and extended its home winning streak to nine games to remain undefeated at home with the win. Eight of the Cavaliers’ nine starters had multiple-hit games, including five players that finished with three hits apiece. UVa’s 23 hits were the most since the Cavs posted 23 hits at Richmond back on April 17th, 2002.
Virginia jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after the Cavaliers pounded out four consecutive hits, including back-to-back RBI-singles by Ryan Zimmerman and Chris Sweet to drive in Mark Reynolds and Joe Koshansky to give UVa a two-run lead.
The Cavaliers extended their lead to 6-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning highlighted by a two-run home run to center field by Reynolds, his third of the year. Virginia added four more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 10-0 lead, sparked by RBI-singles by Street and Matt Dunn.
The Blue Devils scored their first run of the game to make it a 10-1 contest when Senterrio Landrum tripled to left field to lead off the inning for Duke, before scoring a run three batters later on a sacrifice fly RBI to center field by Brian Patrick.
UVa tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull ahead 13-1 when the first five consecutive batters that came to the plate for the Cavaliers recorded a hit, including a RBI-single to left-center field by Andrew Riesenfeld.
UVa starting pitcher Jeff Kamrath (2-1) pitched 8.0 strong innings and allowed just one run while scattering four hits with a game-high six strikeouts.
Duke starting pitcher Jeff Alleva (2-2) lasted just 3.2 innings and allowed six runs (two earned) on 11 hits with no strikeouts. All six runs scored that scored while Alleva was on the mound came with two outs, including four consecutive runs that crossed the plate when the fourth inning was prolonged following an error by the Blue Devils’ Adam Loftin.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 11-8 overall, 1-3 in the ACC. The loss drops Duke’s record to 12-11 overall, 0-1 in the conference.
The Cavaliers and Blue Devils will return to action on Saturday, March 22nd when Virginia and Duke play the second contest of the three-game weekend series. First pitch is schedule for 2:00 PM at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —