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Baseball
Virginia Baseball Records 10-7 Victory Over North Carolina A&T
Feb. 13, 2004
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Virginia baseball team recorded a 10-7 victory over the North Carolina A&T Aggies in a non-conference game played at War Memorial Stadium. Virginia pulled out to a 9-3 lead after seven innings of play before coming away with a three-run victory in the Cavaliers’ season-opener. UVa’s Matt Dunn and Joe Koshansky each homered and starting pitcher Andrew Dobies had a solid outing to pace Virginia to its first victory of the season. The contest also marked the UVa debut of first-year head baseball coach Brian O’Connor.
After playing through one scoreless inning, Virginia took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning. UVa got things started when Dunn gave the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead when he recorded his first collegiate home run after connecting on a solo shot to right-center field. Virginia then extended its lead to 2-0 when Tom Hagan doubled before scoring a run one batter on a RBI ground out by Scott Headd.
North Carolina A&T cut UVa’s lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning when Duron Legrande hit a solo home run to right field. However, the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 6-1 in the top of the third inning when Matt Street reached base and scored a run on a RBI-single by Ryan Zimmerman before Koshansky connected on a three-run home run to right-center field to give UVa a five-run lead. Koshansky’s home run was the 11th of his career.
The Aggies answered back with two runs in the bottom of the third inning, aided by two Virginia errors, and cut the Cavaliers’ lead in half at 6-3. But UVa stretched its lead back to five against at 8-3 in the top of the fourth inning following a pair of walks by Street and Mark Reynolds before each baserunner scored a run. Street scored first on a RBI ground out by Zimmerman to make it 7-3 before Reynolds scored a run two batters later on a RBI by Dunn to push the lead to 8-3.
Virginia tacked on another run in the top of the sixth inning to make it a 9-3 ballgame when Reynolds singled to lead off the inning before he scored his third run of the game after a RBI-single by Zimmerman. Zimmerman’s RBI was his third RBI of the contest.
The score would remain 9-3 until the bottom of the eighth inning when North Carolina A&T scored two runs to cut the lead to 9-5. The Aggies trimmed UVa’s lead to 9-4 when N.C. A&T’s Jeremy Jones hit a RBI-single up the middle to drive in Austin Love before Dustin Ijames singled and scored a run himself on a RBI-single to left field by Legrande to make the score 9-5.
Virginia came back and added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning when Hagan reached base after being hit by a pitch before Mike Mitchell drove him in to score a run three batters later with a RBI-single to center field. Mitchell’s RBI was the first of his collegiate career and he also picked up two hits in his first collegiate start as a true-freshman.
But North Carolina A&T would not go away quietly, as the Aggies scored two more runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to cut UVa’s lead to 10-7 with runners on first and second base with no outs. With the Aggies threatening to tie or win the game, N.C. A&T grounded into a rare triple play to end the game to give the Cavaliers the victory. The triple play was UVa’s first since turning one on April 19, 2003 in a game against N.C. State.
UVa’s Dobies (1-0) picked up the win after tossing 5.0 innings and allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits to go along with a game-high five strikeouts. The Cavaliers’ Shooter Starr made his first appearance in two years after bouncing back from an injury and pitched 2.0 scoreless innings while striking out one batter. UVa’s Matt Avery also pitched 2.0 innings in relief and struck out one batter to close out the game.
N.C. A&T starting pitcher Toby Middleton (0-2) took the loss and lasted only 2.2 innings. He surrendered six runs on six hits while striking out three batters.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 1-0, while the loss drops North Carolina A&T’s record to 0-3.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Saturday, February 14th when UVa and N.C. A&T play the second contest of the three-game non-conference series. First pitch is scheduled for noon at War Memorial Stadium.
— UVa —