Story Links
April 2, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team recorded its 16th consecutive home victory, and picked up a current ACC-best tenth straight win in a row, after posting a 3-0 shutout victory over the visiting Liberty Flames in a non-conference game at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Virginia’s win marks the first time since the 1947 season that UVa has won 10 consecutive games. The Cavaliers’ 16th consecutive game home winning streak is the longest UVa home winning streak known in the program’s history.
Virginia’s Joe Koshansky did a little bit of everything for the Cavaliers in the win. The third-year left-handed pitcher tossed eight scoreless innings on the mound while striking out a game-high nine batters, and also hit a solo home run to provide some offense in UVa’s fifth shutout win of the year.
Virginia scored the first run of the game and took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning when Matt Dunn doubled to left-center field to start off the side for UVa. Dunn crossing the plate for the eventual game-winning run three batters later on a ground out by Ryan Zimmerman.
The Cavaliers extended their lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning when Kyle Werman drove in Zimmerman to score a run when Werman executed a sacrifice bunt with the bases loaded. Zimmerman reached first base with a single to lead off the side.
UVa added an insurance run when Koshansky connected on a solo home run to left field to give Virginia a 3-0 lead. Koshansky’s home run was his second of the year.
UVa’s Koshansky (4-0) picked up his fourth win of the year and went 8.0 strong innings as the starting pitcher. He allowed no runs while scattering four hits while recording a game-high nine strikeouts. Liberty starting pitcher Jon Banke (0-2) went 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on four hits with a team-high seven strikeouts in the loss.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 19-8 overall. The loss drops Liberty’s record to 7-18 on the season. The Cavaliers finished 2-0 against the Flames this year after also posting a 15-5 win on February 24th in Lynchburg, Va.
UVa will return to action on April 4-6 when the Cavaliers travel to Clemson, S.C. to face the Clemson Tigers in a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. Virginia will face Clemson on Friday, April 4th at 7:00 PM, Saturday, April 5th at 4:00 PM and Sunday, April 6th at 1:00 PM. All three games will be played at the Tigers’ Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
— UVa —