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May 28, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, FL.(AP)-Virginia first baseman Sean Doolittle threw 31/3 innings of effective relief pitching and send the Cavaliers to thechampionship game following a 5-4 win over Clemson on Saturday in theAtlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds ofJacksonville.
Virginia (41-17) won its third successive game of the tournament andwill make its first appearance in an ACC Tournament final since 1996.The Cavaliers won their only league title that year with a 12-1 win overFlorida State in the tournament held at Durham, N.C..
Virginia’s only other championship game appearance was in 1982 when itlost a 3-2 decision to North Carolina.
Clemson fell to 39-21 and now awaits word on Sunday to learn if it isone 16 teams selected to host an NCAA regional starting next week.
Doolittle, who has the team’s second highest batting average amongregulars with a .327 mark, made his 20th relief appearance of the year.He allowed four hits, struck out five and did not issue any walks. Hisconsecutive scoreless streak of 28 2/3 innings was halted in the eighthinning when Clemson starting pitcher Kris Harvey connected for his 22ndhome run of the year. Doolittle got credit for the win, improving hismark to 3-0 on the year.
Virginia jumped on Harvey for four runs on six hits and a pair ofwalks in the first three innings, keyed by Scott Headd’s bloop singleinto short right field that brought home two runs in the third inning.Tom Hagan followed Headd’s hit with a solid single up the middle tobring home the third run of the inning.
The Cavaliers scored what proved to be the winning run in the sixthwhen Mike Campagna was credited with a single but ended up on third asClemson shortstop Stan Widman’s throw to first sailed into the dugout.Two batters later, Tim Henry lofted a fly ball to centerfield to scoreCampagna on a sacrifice fly.
Clemson pushed across two of its three runs in the fourth inning onTravis Storrer’s two-run homer, and added its final run on Harvey’sround-tripper in the eighth. The Tigers got a one-out hit from HermanDemmink in the ninth inning, but UVA closer Casey Lambert induced BradChalk to bounce into a game-inning double play.