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Virginia Baseball Cruises To 11-4 Victory Over Brown
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March 31, 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia baseball team used a decisive five-run first inning to propel itself to an 11-4 victory over the Brown Bears in a non-conference game at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium. Just like it did in the first inning of Tuesday’s contest with Brown (a game the Cavaliers won 13-2 after scoring nine runs in the first inning), UVa came out of the gates swinging and scored enough runs in the side to win the game.
Virginia’s Matt Dunn lead the Orange and Blue’s offensive charge and plated five of UVa’s 11 runs after posting a game-high five RBI. Dunn’s five RBI were the most by a Cavalier in a game since Joe Koshansky accomplished the feat in a 14-6 UVa victory over Richmond on March 2nd.
The Cavaliers took charge of the game right from the get-go and made it a 5-0 ball game after one inning of play. The first five Virginia batters that stepped to the plate reached base and came around to score a run. Four different UVa batters posted an RBI in the inning, highlighted by a two-run single through the left side by Paul Gillispie. Koshansky (single), Dunn (bases loaded walk) and Kyle Werman were responsible for driving in the other three runs.
UVa tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning and took a 6-0 lead when Matt Street scored one of his three runs in the game after reaching base on a Bear error before scoring a run on a RBI sacrifice fly to center field by Dunn.
Brown cut Virginia’s lead to 6-2 in the top of the fifth inning when Paul Christian hit a two-run, opposite field home run to right field that also scored teammate Bobby Wiginton (walk). Christian’s home run was his second in as many games. He also hit a solo home run on Tuesday off of the first pitch of the contest in the Bears’ 13-2 loss.
However, UVa essentially put the game away in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Cavaliers scored three more runs to extend their lead to 9-2. The trio of Street (single), Mark Reynolds (walk) and Ryan Zimmerman (single) all reached base safely to lead off the side in the bottom of the sixth inning and Zimmerman, Dunn and Gillispie were each accountable for an RBI. Zimmerman also scored three runs in the game and Gillispie was second to only Dunn in RBI with three.
The Bears scored a run in the top of the seventh inning on a RBI-double by Danny Hughes to score James Lowe (who reached base on an error) making it a 9-3 game. But the Cavaliers countered with two more run in the bottom of the eighth inning to ice the contest. After Zimmerman and Koshansky walked in consecutive at-bats, Dunn drove them both in to score a pair of runs with a two-run, RBI-triple to right-center field to make it an 11-3 game. The Bears scored a lone run in the top of the ninth for the final run of the game, giving Virginia an 11-4 victory.
UVa starting pitcher Alex Smith (1-0) picked up his first collegiate victory on the mound after tossing 5.0 innings. He allowed just two runs on four hits to go along with his game-high four strikeouts. The trio of Shooter Starr (2.0 IP, one unearned run, two strikeouts), Canon Hickman (1.0 scoreless and hitless inning) and Alan Zimmerer (1.0 IP, one run and one strikeout) closed out the game in winning fashion.
Brown starting pitcher Clint Dykehouse (1-1) took the loss after lasting only 2.0 innings. He surrendered five runs on five hits and walked three batters.
With the victory, Virginia’s record improves to 22-7 overall. The loss drops Brown’s record to 3-10 on the season. The Cavaliers won the two-game series with the Bears, two games to none.
Virginia will return to action on April 2-4 when the Cavaliers travel to Durham, N.C. to face the Duke Blue Devils in a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. UVa is scheduled to face Duke on Friday, April 2nd at 7:00 PM, Saturday, April 3rd at 12:00 noon and Sunday, April 4th at 1:30 PM. All three games will be played at the Blue Devils’ Jack Coombs Field on the campus of Duke University. The second game of the series (Saturday’s contest) will be aired on Fox Sports Net.
— UVa —