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Feb. 19, 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team recorded a 15-2 victory over the visiting Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks in a non-conference game at the Cavaliers’ Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Virginia scored seven runs in the first inning and never looked back as it cruised to a 13-point victory. The win was UVa’s home-opener.
Virginia wasted no time getting on the scoreboard and jumped out to 7-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Cavaliers batted through the lineup and four of the seven runs were plated thanks in part to a pair of two-run RBI-doubles by Scott Headd and Matt Street.
Maryland-Eastern Shore scored its first run of the game in the top of the second inning when Anthony Jackson led off the inning with a triple down the left field line before he scored a run one batter later on a RBI ground out by Rob Benak to make the score 7-1.
However, Virginia answered right back with three runs of its own in the bottom half of the second inning to take a commanding 10-1 lead, thanks in part two a two-run home run to left-center field by Joe Koshansky. Koshansky’s home run was his third of the season. UVa extended its lead to 12-1 in the bottom of the third inning when Josh Darby and Headd each scored a run on back-to-back Hawk errors.
UMES posted its second run of the game in the top of the fourth inning when Jackson doubled to right field before coming around to score a run on a RBI-single to shallow left-center field to make it a 12-2 ballgame. But the Cavaliers answered back with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make it a 13-2 ballgame when Ty Grisham doubled down the right field line before scoring a run one batter later on RBI-double to left center field by Mark Reynolds. Grisham’s hit and run were the first of his collegiate career.
The Cavaliers made it a 14-2 ballgame in the bottom of the fifth inning when Jordan Ghrist doubled to lead off the side before he scored a run one batter later on a RBI-single up the middle by Tom Hagan. UVa tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth inning when Kyle Werman was hit by a pitched and scored a run following a double by Paul Gillispie coupled with a fielding error by the Hawks’ left fielder.
UVa starting pitcher Matt Avery (1-0) picked up his first win of the season and threw 5.0 innings. He allowed just two runs on four hits to go along with a game-high five strikeouts. UMES starting pitcher Dereck Casper lasted only 1.1 inning and gave up 10 runs (nine earned) on six hits and struck out one batter.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 4-0 overall. The loss drops Maryland-Eastern Shore’s record to 0-3 on the season.
The Cavaliers will return to home action on February 21-22 when UVa hosts the Penn State Nittany Lions in a two-game non-conference series. Virginia will face PSU on Saturday and Sunday at 1:00 PM at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
— UVa —