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March 22, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team picked right up where it left off on Friday by cruising to a second consecutive runaway victory over the visiting Duke Blue Devils in an Atlantic Coast Conference match-up in front of a season-high 938 spectators at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Virginia broke open a one-run game during a four-inning stretch that saw UVa score nine runs, including a five-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning, to win the second game of the three-game weekend series. The victory was Virginia’s 10th of the season at home, where UVa is a perfect 10-0 this season.
After playing through four and a half innings of scoreless play, Virginia scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 1-0 lead when Scott Headd singled to reach base, before scoring the game’s first run two batters later on a RBI-single to left-center by Matt Street. The Cavaliers then added another run in UVa’s next at-bat when Matt Dunn laid down a RBI sacrifice bunt to score Paul Gillispie (singled to reach base) from third, giving Virginia a 2-0 advantage after five complete innings.
Duke cut UVa’s lead in half at 2-1 when Troy Caradonna connected on a RBI-single to left field that drove in Javier Socorro from second base. However, the Cavaliers broke the one-run game wide open in the bottom of the sixth inning and scored five runs on five consecutive hits to take a 7-1 lead after six innings of play. The five-run scoring burst was sparked by a two-run, RBI-single to left field by Gillispie that drove in Kyle Werman and Headd.
The Cavaliers tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Chris Sweet singled to reach base before scoring a run from first base one batter later. Werman singled to advance Street to third before a Blue Devil error allowed Street to cross the plate, giving Virginia an 8-1 lead through seven innings of play.
UVa plated another run in the bottom of the eighth inning to stretch its lead to 9-1 when Ryan Zimmerman drove in Street with a RBI sacrifice fly to right field. The Blue Devils scored a run in the top of the ninth inning when Tim Layden doubled to left-center field before scoring two batters later on a RBI sacrifice fly to right field by Grant Stanley to make the final score 9-2.
UVa starting pitcher Mike Ballard (1-2) picked up his first collegiate win after going 5.2 innings and allowed just one run on four hits with two strikeouts.
Duke starting pitcher Russell Durfee (0-1) lasted 4.1 innings and allowed two runs on six hits with three strikeouts to take the loss.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 12-8 overall, 2-3 in the ACC. The loss drops Duke’s record to 12-12 overall, 0-2 in the conference. The victory assures UVa of winning the three-game series by taking a 2-0 lead.
The Cavaliers and Blue Devils will return to action on Sunday, March 23rd when Virginia and Duke play the final contest of the three-game weekend series. First pitch is schedule for 1:00 PM at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —