Thompson, No. 3 Virginia Baseball Blank Duke, 4-0
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April 6, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Jacob Thompson (Danville, Va.) tossed his second career shutout in leading the No. 3 Virginia baseball team to a 4-0 triumph over Duke Friday night at a frigid Davenport Field. Thompson (8-0) yielded just four hits and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts. He did not walk a batter or allow a runner past second base in his overpowering performance.
“It was a great pitching performance by Jacob Thompson,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “It was his best game of the year. It is great for our team to have a well-pitched game in the first game of a league series since it saves our bullpen for the last two games of the series.”
Thompson kept the Blue Devils off balance the entire night and recorded a number of first-pitch outs. The game was completed in a speedy hour and 54 minutes, the fastest nine-inning game for the Cavaliers since March 11, 2005, a one hour, 44-minute contest against Marist.
Alexander Hassan (2-2) took the defeat for Duke (21-13, 2-11 ACC). He tossed six innings, giving up two earned runs, four hits and four walks while striking out four. Tim Sherlock had two of the Blue Devils’ four hits.
At the plate, the top third of the Cavaliers’ batting order – Greg Miclat (Concord, N.C.), Brandon Marsh (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Sean Doolittle (Tabernacle, N.J.) – combined to go 6-for-10. Each had two hits, while Miclat scored three times.
The Cavaliers (28-6, 9-4) wasted no time in taking the lead as Miclat scored on a groundout by David Adams (Margate, Fla.) in the first inning. Virginia tacked onto the lead in the fifth, as Miclat walked, stole second and scored on a triple to right-center by Marsh.
In the seventh inning, the Cavaliers touched up Duke reliever Michael Ness for a run, as Doolittle hit a double to the left-field corner to plate Miclat. The `Hoos added one more run in the eighth inning on a Patrick Wingfield (Winchester, Va.) RBI single.
Brandon Guyer (Herndon, Va.) had a double in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to career-best 19 games.
Virginia and Duke continue their three-game series at 4 p.m. Saturday.