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No. 24 Virginia Stages Late Rally to Top No. 2 UNC, 5-4
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. Jeremy Farrell’s two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning provided the No. 24 Virginia baseball team with the go-ahead runs in a 5-4 win over No. 2 North Carolina Sunday in a rain-shortened game at Davenport Field. Shortly after the sixth inning was completed, play was halted because of inclement weather, and just over an hour later the game was called.
John Barr (Fr., Ivyland, Pa.) led Virginia with two hits, while Tyler Cannon (So., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) scored twice for the Cavaliers, who finished with eight hits. Dustin Ackley, Kyle Shelton and Tim Federowicz all had two hits for North Carolina.
Neal Davis (So., Baltimore, Md.) earned the win out of the bullpen to improve to 4-0 on the season. He pitched the sixth inning and came in after Andrew Carraway (Jr., Marietta, Ga.) started and tossed five innings while allowing two earned runs, six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
Brian Moran (0-1) took the loss for North Carolina after allowing the Cavaliers’ fifth run. Matt Harvey started for the Tar Heels and went 3.2 innings, giving up three runs (two earned), five hits and five walks while striking out five.
North Carolina (42-9, 20-6 ACC) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Shelton single to score Ackley.
Virginia (34-17, 14-13) put up three in the fourth inning. With one out, Franco Valdes (So., Miami, Fla.) drew a walk and moved to second on a Barr single. Cannon then drew a walk after a 10-pitch at bat. Greg Miclat (Jr., Concord, N.C.) hit a grounder to second for an run-scoring fielder’s choice, and a North Carolina error allowed Barr to score and moved Cannon to third. Patrick Wingfield (Sr., Winchester, Va.) followed with a squeeze bunt and beat it out for a single while Cannon scored, giving UVa a 3-1 lead.
North Carolina battled back with a run in the fifth inning on a Tim Fedroff sacrifice fly, and the Tar Heels took the lead with two in the sixth inning against Davis, as pinch-hitter Ryan Graepel hit an RBI single with one out and Garrett Gore scorched a run-scoring double with two out to give UNC a 4-3 lead.
Virginia loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, but Moran struck out Dan Grovatt (Fr., Tabernacle, N.J.) to bring Farrell to the plate. On a 3-2 pitch, Farrell blooped a ball down the right-field line, just eluding Fedroff in right field, to score Cannon and Miclat and give Virginia a 5-4 lead.
After the sixth inning was completed, with the inclement weather quickly closing in, play was halted and the tarp was pulled onto the infield. After over an hour of heavy rain and lightning, play was finally called.
Virginia plays its final non-conference game of the 2008 season at 6 p.m. Tuesday as it entertains VMI at Davenport Field.