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Baseball
Virginia Baseball Falls To Quinnipiac, 13-11
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March 8, 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team, fresh off its first national ranking in eight years (UVa is ranked #30 in this week’s Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll), saw its 11-4 lead after seven innings of play turn into a 13-11 loss to the Quinnipiac Bobcats in a non-conference game in front of 452 spectators at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium.
The Bobcats scored nine runs in the top of the eighth inning en route to turning a seven-run deficit into a two-run victory. The win was Quinnipiac’s first of the season, while the loss snapped Virginia’s eight-game winning streak and was the Cavaliers’ second defeat at home this year.
After UVa opened up a 1-0 lead through four innings of play, Quinnipiac took a 4-1 lead in the top of the fifth inning with one swing of the bat when Albert Marano hit a grand slam off of the score board in left field. The Cavaliers trimmed the Bobcats’ lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the fifth inning before regaining the lead at 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth inning by scoring six runs in the side. Four of Virginia’s six runs in the inning were driven in on a pair of two-run, RBI-singles by Joe Koshansky and Matt Dunn.
UVa plated three more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning after a sacrifice fly by Matt Street and a pair of RBI-doubles by Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Koshansky to stretch its lead to 11-4 after seven completed innings. That’s when Quinnipiac turned the game and started the comeback.
Trailing by seven runs in the top of the eighth inning, the Bobcats connected on eight hits, six of which were doubles, to drive in nine runs to take a 13-11 lead. Brien Magee posted the game-winning hit when he doubled to left field to drive in both Randy Gress and Marano. Morano’s run became the eventual game-winning score. Bryan Sabatella then hit a RBI-single to center field to score Magee to make the score 13-11. That’s all the scoring the Bobcats would need to spring the upset.
UVa’s Canon Hickman (1-1) took the loss after giving up four runs on five hits and struck out one batter. The Bobcats’ Ryan Keefe (1-0) picked up the win after tossing just 1.1 inning after allowed three runs on three hits. Cameron Ball picked up his first save of the year after pitching 2.0 scoreless innings.
With the loss, Virginia’s record falls to 13-2 overall. The win improves Quinnipiac’s record to 1-3 on the season. The Cavaliers will return action on Wednesday, March 10th when UVa travels to Greensboro, N.C. to face the UNC Greensboro Spartans in a non-conference game. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
— UVa —