Cavalier Baseball Rallies for 6-5 Win at James Madison
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March 6, 2007
HARRISONBURG, Va. – Brandon Marsh (Alpharetta, Ga.) drove in the game-winning run in the ninth inning for the second consecutive game to lift Virginia to a 6-5 win at James Madison Tuesday afternoon at Long Field/Mauck Stadium. The win brings the Cavaliers’ win streak to 13-games, one shy of the school record, as they posted their third straight come from behind win.
“It was good to get another come-from-behind win and to get a road win,” head coach Brian O’Connor said. “I thought our bullpen did a good job of keeping us in the game. We were able to manufacture a few runs and Brandon Marsh stepped up with a big-game-winning hit for the second straight game.”
The Cavaliers (15-1) will now look to tie the school record for consecutive wins Friday at Wake Forest. Virginia set the school record with 14 consecutive victories during the 2004 season.
David Adams (Margate, Fla.) led the Virginia offense with a 3-for-4 performance, including two doubles on the day. Patrick Wingfield (Winchester, Va.) was 2-for-4, while Marsh and Sean Doolittle (Tabernacle, N.J.) were each 2-for-5.
Jake Rule (Waynesboro, Va.) picked up his first win as a Cavalier with two shutout innings of relief. Casey Lambert (Harrisonburg, Va.) returned to his hometown to pitch a perfect ninth inning for his third save of the season. Former Cavalier Allie Swanson, who transferred to JMU (1-9), took the loss, allowing a run in 0.2 innings.
Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Doolittle hit a two-out infield single and scored on Adams’ double to the left-centerfield wall.
James Madison answered with three runs in the bottom of the second. Brett Garner led off with a single up the middle and Alex Foltz doubled to put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Garner scored on a groundout by Matt Browning to even the score. Later in the inning, Mike Fabiaschi’s two-run home run gave the Dukes a 3-1 lead.
In the top pf the fourth, Adams reached on a one-out single. He moved to second on a groundout and to third on a balk. There was a pass ball on Beau Seabury’s (Mount Vernon, Wash.) strikeout that allowed Seabury to reach and Adams to score, cutting the JMU lead to 3-2.
The Cavaliers drew even in the top of the fifth inning with another two-out rally. Greg Miclat’s (Concord, N.C.) two-out single got the rally started and he moved to third on Marsh’s single. Doolittle hit a double to right field that scored Miclat, but Marsh was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
Virginia took the lead in the top of the sixth sinning. Adams led off with his second double of the game. Guyer followed and was hit by a pitch. Seabury attempted to bunt the runners over, but one first pitch, Adams stole third when no one covered the bag on the bunt play. Seabury successfully bunted on the next pitch to plate Adams to make the score 4-3.
The Dukes retook the lead in the bottom of the sixth, 5-4. Steve Caseres and Matt Townsend led off the inning with back-to-back singles. They moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt and later scored on an RBI single by Browning.
The Cavaliers put together another two-out rally in the top of the eighth. Guyer singled and stole second before Seabury was hit by a pitch. Wingfield then delivered with a RBI single through the left side to score Guyer and tie the game at 5-5.
Virginia took the lead in the top of the ninth. With one out, Miclat walked and stole second. He scored on Marsh’s RBI single up the middle.
Virginia will open conference play this weekend when it visits Wake Forest for a three-game series. The Cavaliers’ ACC opener against the Demon Deacons is set for Friday, with first pitch slated for 2:30 p.m.