Baseball Sweeps Both Ends of Friday Twinbill
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The Virginia baseball team won both ends of its doubleheader Friday at Davenport Field. In the first game, the Cavaliers defeated Fordham, 6-2. UVa won the nightcap, 11-4, over Delaware to improve to 7-0 this season.
John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) went 4-for-8 with a home run and three RBI in the doubleheader, while Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) added four hits in eight at-bats. Virginia pitchers combined to strike out 28 batters in the twinbill, highlighted by freshman Danny Hultzen’s (Bethesda, Md.) 12-strikeout performance in the opener.
Game 1 (UVa 6, Fordham 2)
Hultzen had a memorable second start, recording a dozen strikeouts in six strong innings. It is the most strikeouts for a Cavalier pitcher since Sean Doolittle posted 13 on April 28, 2006, at Maryland. Hultzen (2-0) allowed only two unearned runs, six hits and a walk. Robert Morey (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched the final three innings to earn his first save of the season. The two combined to strike out 16 Fordham batters.
J.P. Mack (0-2) suffered the defeat for Fordham, allowing six runs (five earned), 10 hits and two walks in seven innings. He struck out six.
Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.), Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.), John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) and Franco Valdes (Jr., Miami, Fla.) each had two hits as Virginia racked up 11 hits in the game.
Virginia started fast with a three-run first inning. Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) led off with a walk and moved to second on a single by Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.). After a Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) sacrifice bunt, both runners scored when Grovatt reached on an error. Grovatt then stole second and scored when Proscia doubled to center field.
The Cavaliers doubled their lead in the third inning. Grovatt led off with a single and moved up on a passed ball. He scored on a John Barr (So., Ivyland, Pa.) infield single. Hicks followed with a single, and Barr and Hicks each came home on a double by Valdes.
Fordham (1-4) broke through with two unearned runs in the sixth inning. The Rams took advantage of a UVa error to score on a Bobby DiNardo groundout and a Mike Mobbs single.
Game 2 (UVa 11, Delaware 4)
Virginia rallied from an early three-run deficit to pull out an 11-4 win over Delaware. Parker went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and three RBI. He also cranked his second home run. Hicks homered and drove in three runs, while David Coleman (So., Richmond, Va.) scored three times as part of a 2-for-4 effort.
Tyler Wilson (So., Midlothian, Va.) worked a career-high 3.2 innings and struck out a career-best six batters as he earned his first career win. Relievers Neal Davis (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) and Matt Packer (Jr., Germantown, Tenn.) combined to allow just one hit over the final four frames.
Corey Crispell (1-1) took the loss for Delaware. He worked 4.1 innings, allowing eight earned runs, nine hits and two walks while striking out five. UVa starter Jeff Lorick (Jr., Duluth, Ga.) lasted 1.1 innings and gave up four earned runs, four hits and a walk while striking out one.
Delaware (3-3) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Ryan Cuneo single to score Alonso.
UVa wasted no time in tying the score as Parker led off the bottom of the first with a home run to right-center field. It marked Parker’s second home run of the year both to lead off games.
Delaware knocked Lorick from the game with a three-run second inning. Ryan Reed scored on a Lorick wild pitch and Pat Dameron came plateward on a Hicks passed ball. After Lorick issued a walk to Kyle Davis, Wilson came on in relief, and after recording the second out of the inning, he gave up a double on an 0-2 pitch to Cuneo as the Blue Hens took a 4-1 lead.
Virginia responded again in the second inning, scoring five times while sending 10 batters to the plate. After Cannon was hit by a pitch to lead off, he stole second and scored on a Hicks single. Coleman followed with a single and Jared King (Fr., Radford, Va.) advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.
Parker singled through the right side to scored both runners and knot the score at four. After Gosselin singled, Hultzen ripped a single to center to score Parker and give the Wahoos the lead. Grovatt hit the next pitch to center to plate Gosselin for a 6-4 UVa advantage.
In the fifth inning, the Cavaliers pushed their lead to 8-4 as Hicks punished a hanging curve ball and launched it into the top row of bleachers in left field for his first career home run. That spelled the end of the day Crispell, but reliever Devon Pearson then loaded the bases and walked in a run when he issued a free pass to Hultzen.
The Cavaliers added a run in the seventh on a Proscia fielder’s choice and tacked on one final run in the eighth on a Gosselin sacrifice fly.
UVa will play Fordham at 9 a.m. Saturday, with Fordham and Delaware matching up 30 minutes following the completion of the first game.
On Saturday, baseball parking will be available at the Emmet-Ivy Garage. Parking in the University Hall lots will be limited to those coming to the men’s basketball game vs. Wake Forest at 2 p.m. The promotion that enabled ticket holders for the Virginia men’s basketball game against Wake Forest to attend the Saturday baseball game against Fordham for free will be in effect for the rescheduled Virginia-Fordham game Saturday. Fans who wish to take advantage of this offer are asked to show their men’s basketball ticket at the entrance to Davenport Field.
In the first game Friday, Delaware defeated Fordham, 6-2.