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Baseball's Rally Falls Short vs. William and Mary, 6-5
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 16 Virginia baseball team fell behind early and could not quite recover in dropping a 6-5 decision to William and Mary Wednesday night at Davenport Field. After spotting the Tribe leads of 3-0 and 6-3, Virginia fell just short in its late rally.
David Adams (Jr., Margate, Fla.), David Coleman (Fr., Richmond, Va.) and John Barr (Fr., Ivyland, Pa.) each racked up two hits as UVa finished with eight on the night. Franco Valdes (So., Miami, Fla.) added a two-run double for the Cavaliers.
Ben Guez had three hits and two RBI, while Tyler Stampone homered and knocked home two to lead the Tribe offense, which came into the game with the fourth-highest batting average (.342) in the nation.
Jeff Lorick (So., Duluth, Ga.) was credited with the loss for Virginia and fell to 3-2 after starting and going 4.0 innings while allowing five runs (four earned), seven hits and a walk with two strikeouts. Cody Winslow (4-1) earned the win after tossing 5.0 innings and giving up three earned runs, five hits and two walks with two strikeouts. Pat Kantakevich pitched a perfect ninth to nab his eight save.
William & Mary (30-12) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning on a two-run double down the left-field line by Guez.
Virginia (32-12) responded with three in the fourth inning, with all the damage coming with two out. After Jeremy Farrell (Jr., Westlake, Ohio) walked and Coleman singled, Valdes rifled a double up the left-center field gap to score both runners and tie the game. Barr followed with a single to bring Valdes home and give UVa a 3-2 advantage.
The lead was short-lived as the Tribe plated three runs in the fifth inning. Stampone ripped a two-run home run into the left-field bleachers for his second homer of the year. Guez followed with a single to force Lorick from the game. Neal Davis (So., Baltimore, Md.) entered the game and had Guez picked off, but an errant throw to second base allowed Guez to move to third, and he scored an unearned run on an infield single by Mike Sheridan.
William & Mary pushed its lead to 6-3 in the sixth on an RBI double by James Williamson. The run snapped a string of 27.2 consecutive scoreless innings by Davis, who pitched four innings and allowed just a run and four hits with three strikeouts. Matt Packer (So., Germantown, Tenn.) struck out the side in the ninth inning.
Virginia got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a Coleman RBI single, and Valdes followed with a rocket that was picked off by Sheridan at first base and turned into a double play to end the threat.
The Cavaliers scored another run in the eighth inning on a one-out Dan Grovatt (Fr., Tabernacle, N.J.) double to score Adams. Tribe reliever Kevin Landry then pitched out of the jam to keep the score at 6-5.
Virginia travels to Coral Gables, Fla., this weekend for a matchup with top-ranked Miami. The teams play at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon Sunday. The Saturday and Sunday games will be televised regionally by Comcast Sports Southeast, while the Friday and Sunday games will be webcast by ACC Select.