Virginia Pitches Second Consecutive Shutout, Tops Bucknell 2-0
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Feb. 23, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The Virginia baseball team won its sixth consecutive game with a 2-0 victory over Bucknell Friday afternoon at Davenport Field in the opener of the three-game set between the teams. The win improves the Cavaliers’ record to 8-1 on the season, while the Bison fall to 0-2.
“Today was a great baseball game with excellent pitching and hitting on both sides,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “You aren’t going to score ten runs every single game, and today’s game is more typical of how our conference games will be. We got superb pitching today and did a good job of manufacturing some runs.”
Sean Doolittle (Tabernacle, N.J.) got the win for Virginia, allowing just four hits and striking out eight in six shutout innings of work. Jake Rule (Waynesboro, Va.) allowed one hit over two innings of relief, and Casey Lambert (Harrisonburg, Va.) recorded his first save of the year by working a scoreless ninth. Mathew Wilson allowed one run on four hits in six innings for Bucknell, but took the loss.
Beau Seabury (Mount Vernon, Wash.) and Mike Mitchell (Chesapeake, Va.) were the offensive stars for the Cavaliers, each going 2-for-3 with a run batter in. The Bison were led by Ryan Gryskevicz, who went 2-for-4.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth inning. Jeremy Farrell (Westlake, Ohio) led off with a single and Seabury followed with a walk. After Patrick Wingfield (Winchester, va.) bunted the runners into scoring position, Farrell scored on Mitchell’s sacrifice fly.
The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth. Brandon Guyer (Herndon, Va.) led off with a single. Farrell bunted him to second before Guyer reached third on a wild pitch. Seabury’s RBI single drove in the second Cavalier run of the game.
For Virginia, the win improved its home record to 6-0 this season. The shutout was the second consecutive one for the Cavaliers, and third on the season. The win also marked the first time Virginia had won this season without scoring at least ten runs.
Due to the weather forecast for Sunday, the Cavaliers and Bison will conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader. First game is slated for 1 p.m., with the second to follow 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.