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April 1, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team recorded its 15th consecutive home victory, and a current ACC-best ninth straight win in a row, after posting an 11-4 victory over the #16 ranked Richmond Spiders at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. The Cavaliers broke open a 2-2 tie game by scoring eight runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and never looked back. It was UVa’s third win over a ranked opponent this season.
Virginia took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Matt Street scored a run. Street led off the inning by reaching first base after being hit by a pitch, advanced to second base on a sacrifice bunt, then scored a run after stealing third base before advancing to home after a fielding error by the Spiders’ David Thomas.
Richmond scored two runs in the top of the fifth inning and took a 2-1 lead after back-to-back RBI-singles by Michael Galligan and Bobby LeNoir. Galligan drove in the Spiders’ first run by scoring Ben Zeskind from second base before LeNoir drove in Adam Tidball to give UR a short-lived lead. Virginia tied the score at 2-2 in the bottom half of the fifth inning when Ryan Zimmerman (who reach base on an error) scored a run from third base when teammate Chris Sweet was involved in a pick-off attempt. With Sweet caught in the middle of a pick-off attempt between first and second base, Zimmerman advanced home to score a run. Sweet eventually ended up on second base after the pick-off attempt on him was aborted with an attempted putout on Zimmerman at home.
UVa regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning for good and took a 10-2 lead after the Cavaliers pounded out seven hits to score eight runs, along with the aid of one Richmond error. UVa batted through its lineup and had six consecutive hits at one point in the inning, highlighted by a two-run, RBI single by Scott Headd.
The Spiders tacked on a run in the top of the sixth inning and made it a 10-3 contest when LeNoir drove in Tidball with a RBI sacrifice fly to center field. But UVa answered right back with a run of its own in the bottom half of the sixth inning when Mark Reynolds started the side off with a double down the left field line before scoring a run two batters later on a RBI-single through the right side by Zimmerman, giving UVa an 11-3 lead.
The Spiders added a run in the top of the eighth inning to make it an 11-4 contest when Thomas walked before scoring a run one batter later on a RBI-double that dropped into left field by Galligan. But that would be as close as the Spiders would get as the Cavaliers cruised to an seven-run victory.
UVa starting pitcher Andrew Dobies (6-0) picked up his sixth win of the season after going 5.0 innings on the mound. Dobies allowed two runs on six hits with a game-high seven strikeouts to record his team-high sixth win of the year. UR starting pitcher Tim Rice (3-1) took the loss after he went 4.1 innings and allowed seven runs (four earned) on six hits with five strikeouts.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 18-8 overall. The loss drops Richmond’s record to 20-5 on the year. It marks the first time the Cavaliers have been 10 games over .500 since the start of the 1997 season when Virginia began 12-2.
UVa will return to home action on Wednesday, April 2nd when the Cavaliers host the Liberty Flames in a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —