No. 14 Baseball Defeats Wagner, 5-2
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 14 Virginia baseball team finished off a doubleheader sweep with a 5-2 win over Wagner Wednesday night at Davenport Field. UVa also won its first game of the day, 11-3, over Canisius.
UVa (18-0) pushed its school-record winning streak to 18 games, the longest active streak in the country, as the Cavaliers remained the only undefeated team in Division I this year.
Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.), Keith Werman (Fr., Vienna, Va.) and Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) each had two hits for Virginia. Gosselin also drove in two runs. Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) had a hit to extend his hitting streak this season to 18 games. He has a 20-game streak dating to last season.
Shane Halley (Fr., Burke, Va.) earned his first college win after tossing 2.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Kevin Arico (So., Flemington, N.J.) pitched 2.0 perfect innings and escaped a huge jam in the eighth inning to notch his second save in as many nights. Jack Rice (0-1) took the loss for Wagner after giving up two earned runs, four hits and a walk in 3.1 innings out of the bullpen.
Virginia scored first with a run in the second inning. John Bivens (Jr., Disputanta, Va.) walked with one out. He then stole second and adavaned to third on a throwing error by the catcher. Bivens scored on a sacrifice fly by Franco Valdes (Jr., Miami, Fla.).
Wagner (5-3) bounced back with two runs in the third inning. With one out, Tommy Higgins walked and moved to third on a Jared Gruccio single. Higgins scored on a Damian Csakai single, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Following a walk to Vin Avella, Joe Jamison hit into a fielder’s choice to plate Gruccio and give the Seahawks a 2-1 lead.
Virginia countered with a run to knot the score in the third. Werman singled to lead off and advanced on a Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) sacrifice bunt. Werman moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a two-out single up the middle by Gosselin.
The Cavaliers broke the deadlock in the sixth inning. With one out, Grovatt singled. An out later, he stole second and then scored on a pinch-hit single by John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.).
UVa and reliever Sean Lucas (R-Fr., Fishkill, N.Y.) wiggled out a jam in the seventh inning. Brian Martutartus led off with a double and moved up on a Higgins sacrifice bunt. Gruccio then hit a grounder down the third-base line, which Proscia scooped up and fired home to catch Martutartus by a step. Csakai grounded out to end the threat.
Virginia added a run in its half of the seventh when Gosselin hit a sacrifice fly to score Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.).
UVa again dodged a big bullet in the eighth inning, with Arico entering with two runners on and none out to keep the score at 4-2. After a sacrifice bunt, Arico escaped by striking out Chris Drechsel and Seth Boyd to end the inning.
The Cavaliers tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Proscia launched a solo home run into the left-field bleachers. It marked his third home run of 2009.
Virginia continues its homestand this weekend, battling Miami (16-3, 5-1 ACC) in a three-game ACC series. The teams will play at 6 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday and noon Sunday.