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May 14, 2006

Box Score

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – – Sean Doolittle drove in four runs while going 3-for-5 with a run and Mike Ballard struck out five in 6.1 innings for his seventh win as No. 9 Virginia won the series over No. 1 North Carolina, 9-2, in the Atlantic Coast Conference series finale Sunday afternoon at Davenport Field in front of 2,119 fans. Tom Hagan and Greg Miclat both had a pair of hits for the Cavaliers who improved to 41-11 and 18-9 in the ACC. UNC fell to 41-11 but still has a one game lead over the Cavs in the ACC Coastal Division at 19-8.

“This was a great weekend of college baseball in our home park,” UVa head baseball coach Brian O’Connor said. “We knew which ever team made the fewest mistakes would win this series. We committed only one error in three games and didn’t back down against one of the top pitching staffs in the nation. Our players stayed confident and played our style of baseball. Our fans supported us all weekend, which helped us capture such important conference series win.”

Ballard (7-2) held UNC to two runs on seven hits and struck out five. He only walked one batter. Michael Schwimer pitched 1.2 innings in relief, picking up strikeout while holding the Tar Heels to one hit. Casey Lambert pitched the final inning and forced a game-ending double play to seal the victory. Daniel Bard (6-3) took the loss for North Carolina as he allowed three runs, two earned, on five hits in 3.2 innings. Hagan finished 2-for-4 with an RBI while Miclat was 2-for-3 with three runs and an RBI. Josh Horton went 3-for-3 for the Tar Heels while Kyle Shelton and Chad Flack both had two hits.

Virginia exploded for four runs with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. After Miclat and Marsh walked, Doolittle singled to right center driving in both runs to put the Hoos ahead, 7-2. Tom Hagan’s bloop single to left field scored Doolittle to make it, 8-2, before David Adams scored on a balk for the final 9-2 lead.

Miclat’s one-out triple down the right field line scored Beau Seabury in the bottom of sixth extending Virginia’s lead to 4-1. Henry’s sacrifice fly brought in Miclat for a 5-1 Cavalier advantage. UNC came within 5-2 in the top of the seventh when Josh Horton’s sacrifice fly brought in Mike Cavasini.

The Cavaliers broke the 1-1 tie in the bottom of the fourth. Patrick Wingfield walked and moved to third on Miclat’s single up the middle. Henry executed a squeeze bunt scoring Wingfield for the 2-1 lead. After Brandon Marsh’s infield single gave the Cavs runners on the corners, Doolittle drove in Miclat as UVa led, 3-1.

North Carolina took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second after Kyle Shelton doubled home Reid Fronk, who reached when he was hit by a pitch. Virginia tied the game in the bottom of the third on Doolittle’s RBI single through the right side that scored Tim Henry, who had reached on an error.

Virginia hits the road for its final game away from Davenport Field. UVa heads to Old Dominion Tuesday for a 6 p.m. first-pitch.

Series Notes: In a series built around pitching, UVa allowed eight runs, seven earned, while UNC gave up 13 runs, 10 earned, as UVa posted a 2.33 ERA. The Tar Heels had a 3.60 ERA in the series … UVa out-hit UNC, .280-.270 in the series … David Adams finished 5-for-10 with two runs and an RBI. He slugged .600 and had a .643 on-base percentage … Sean Doolittle hit .357 going 5-for-14 with a run and four RBIs … UVa’s weekend rotation of Sean Doolittle, Jacob Thompson and Mike Ballard combined to hold the Tar Heels to three runs on 17 hits in 20 innings while striking out 13 … Virginia committed one error in the series while Carolina had five … Virginia is now 28-3 at Davenport Field … UVa recorded its third straight 40-win season, which is a school record and matched its 2005 win total with its 41st win Sunday … A weekend record of 7,367 fans packed into Davenport Field during the weekend series, which was an average of 2,456. UVa had record crowds of 2,624 Friday and Saturday.

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