Cannon Single in Ninth Propels No. 3 Virginia Baseball to 5-4 Triumph
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May 1, 2007
CHARLOTTESVILLE – Tyler Cannon (Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) singled to score Tim Henry (Fairfield, Conn.) in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the third-ranked Virginia baseball team to a 5-4 win over VCU Wednesday at Davenport Field.
With two outs in the ninth, Henry singled to center, and he moved to second on a balk by reliever Mick Mattaliano (2-2). Cannon followed with a single up the middle to score Henry and give the Cavaliers the 5-4 win.
Andrew Carraway (Marietta, Ga.) earned the win to move to 5-0 after pitching 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Cavaliers’ bullpen racked up 4 2/3 scoreless innings, as Jake Rule (Waynesboro, Va.) tossed a career-best 3 1/3 innings, surrendering just one hit while striking out a pair.
Pat McAnaney (Syracuse, N.Y.) started and went 4 1/3 innings, giving up four earned runs and nine hits. He struck out three.
Sean Doolittle (Tabernacle, N.J.) led the Cavaliers’ offense with a 3-for-4 performance, while Cannon and Patrick Wingfield (Winchester, Va.) each chipped in two hits.
VCU (26-18) used a two-out rally to tally a run in the first, as Kwan Evans singled with two outs, stole second and scored on a John Leonard single.
Virginia (38-10) countered with two runs of its own in the first. Doolittle tripled off the base of the wall in right field to score Cannon, and Brandon Guyer (Herndon, Va.) grounded out to bring Doolittle home and give the Cavaliers a 2-1 lead.
Virginia moved ahead 3-1 in the fourth on a solo home run by Jeremy Farrell (Westlake, Ohio) – his first of the season – only to see the Rams respond with three in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead and knock McAnaney from the game.
The Cavaliers came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the fifth, as Doolittle singled with two outs and scored after Guyer hit the next pitch down the left-field line for a double.
Virginia now will take a 10-day break for final exams before returning to ACC play May 11-13 at home against North Carolina State.