No. 6 Cavaliers Complete Sweep of Hokies on Senior Day, 11-7
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May 20, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – – Sean Doolittle drove in five runs while going 2-for-4 including his fourth home run of the season and Mike Ballard won his eighth game as No. 6 Virginia completed the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series sweep of Virginia Tech, 11-7, Saturday afternoon at Davenport Field in front of another record crowd of 2,624 fans to wrap up the Adelphia Commonwealth Challenge. Greg Miclat led Virginia going 3-for-4 with an RBI as the Cavaliers broke the school record for single season wins picking up win No. 45. UVa finishes the regular season, 45-11 and 21-9 in the ACC.
“We knew this was going to be an emotional game for Virginia Tech,” UVa head baseball coach Brian O’Connor said. “Coach (Chuck) Hartman has been the leader of their program for so many years. They kept coming back, but our guys wanted to end the regular season on a good note heading into next week’s tournament. We stayed aggressive in the late innings and that made a difference in giving our seniors a win on senior day.”
Ballard (8-2) pitched 5 1/3 innings and struck out four. He allowed four runs on eight hits before giving way to Andrew Carraway who tossed 1 2/3 innings. Carrway gave up three runs on four hits. Michael Schwimer made his school record 33rd appearance of the season and tossed one scoreless inning before Casey Lambert recorded all three outs in the ninth. Brandon Marsh went 2-for-3 with two runs and an RBI. David Adams, Patrick Wingfield, Beau Seabury and Mike Mitchell each had a hit.
Sean O’Brien led the Hokies (20-33, 4-25 ACC) going 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Matt Hacker finished 3-for-5 with a pair of runs while Bryan Thomas went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for Virginia Tech, which out-hit UVa, 13-11. Greg Fryman (3-7) took the loss as he allowed six runs on four hits, 2 1/3 innings.
The Cavaliers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth after the Hokies trimmed the lead to 9-7 in the top of the frame. Marsh’s RBI single scored Miclat who doubled with one out to put the Hoos ahead, 10-7. Marsh then stole second and third, before he scored on a passed ball to make it, 11-7. The Hokies used three runs in the top of the eighth to get within, 9-7. Thomas’ RBI double scored Hacker before Billy Marn’s sacrifice fly made it, 9-6. Jose Rojas doubled in a run bringing the Hokies within, 9-7.
Seabury’s RBI single to left field scored Patrick Wingfield, who reached on a two-out double down the left field line giving the Hoosa a 9-4 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Doolittle reached on a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded to get another run across extending Virginia’s lead to 8-4 in the bottom of the sixth.
The Hokies exploded for four runs in the top of the sixth to pull within 7-4. Virginia Tech loaded the bases with one out, and O’Brien drove in two runs with a single to right center to make it, 7-2. After Hacker scored on a wild pitch, Thomas singled up the middle to cut the Cavalier lead, 7-4.
The Hoos made it 7-0 in the bottom of the fourth after Mitchell tripled and scored on Miclat’s sacrifice fly. UVa used a five-run third inning to go on top 6-0. Mitchell walked, Miclat singled and Marsh walked. Doolittle laced a double down the right field line to clear the bases giving Virginia a 4-0 lead. Jeremy Farrell’s sacrifice fly made it, 5-0. With Hagan on first and Adams on third, UVa called for a double steal as Adams stole home giving the Hoos a 6-0 lead.
Doolittle’s fourth home run of the season cleared the wall in left field to put Virginia ahead, 1-0, in the bottom of the first.
Virginia has locked up the No. 3 seed in next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament. The tournament starts at 10 a.m. Wed., May 24. A complete tournament bracket and seeds will be released by the ACC either Saturday night or Sunday morning.
Series Notes: Virginia won its school record 45th game and school record 21st conference game … The Cavs enter next week’s ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed … UVa won its eighth conference series and head coach Brian O’Connor swept his 19th three-game series … Greg Miclat led UVa in the series going 5-for-11 with four runs while hitting .455. Beau Seabury and David Adams each had four RBIs in the series … Michael Schwimer made his school record 33rd appearance in Saturday’s game … UVa’s pitching staff posted 3.00 ERA and struck out 20 in 27 innings … Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson and sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle became the third and fourth pitchers in UVa history to win at least 10 games in a single-season. Thompson pitched a complete game four-hit shutout in the second game of the series and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts. Doolittle struck out six in six innings Thursday to move to 10-1 on the season. He now has 33 strikeouts in his last four starts … This past week, UVa hit .323 as a team led by Mike Mitchell (.500, 5-for-10, 4 Runs, 1 3B, 2 RBIs), Beau Seabury (.417, 5-for-12, 4 Runs, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs), Sean Doolitle (.417, 5-for-12, 5 Runs, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBIs) and Greg Miclat (.375, 6-for-16, 6 Runs, 1 2B, 1 RBI).