Miami Rally Snuffs Out UVa Win Streak at 19
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. The No. 7 Virginia baseball team saw its school-record 19-game winning streak come to a halt as No. 4 Miami rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Cavaliers, 4-3, Saturday afternoon at Davenport Field. The Hurricanes scored all four of their runs in a seventh-inning flurry, then held off a ninth-inning UVa comeback to seal the win.
Virginia (19-1, 5-1 ACC) was the lone remaining undefeated team in the country and had the longest active winning streak in the nation.
UVa starter Andrew Carraway (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) gave the Cavaliers 6.2 strong innings. He rolled from the first through the sixth innings, retiring 15 straight batters at one point before loading the bases with two out in the seventh. He allowed three earned runs, four hits and two walks while striking out nine. Matt Packer (Jr., Germantown, Tenn.) was credited with the loss and fell to 1-1 after giving up an earned run, two hits and a walk in 2.1 innings. He struck out five.
Miami starter David Gutierrez was impressive as well, allowing three runs (one earned), three hits and three walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out seven. Reliever Taylor Wulf (1-0) earned the win, while Kyle Bellamy tossed the final two innings to notch his fifth save. Miami’s pitching staff held UVa to its lowest totals in runs and hits (five) this season.
Trailing 3-0, Miami (17-4, 6-2) scored all four of its runs with two out in the seventh inning. Carraway loaded the bases with two out, and Packer came on to face pinch hitter Ted Blackman, who hit a two-run single which was just out of the reach of second baseman Keith Werman (Fr., Vienna, Va.). Two batters later, Ryan Jackson cracked a two-run single to give the Hurricanes the lead.
UVa attempted to stage a rally in the ninth inning and loaded the bases with two out against Bellamy. He struck out Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) for the potential third out, but the ball bounced off catcher Jason Hagerty’s glove and toward the Miami dugout. Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) came home on the play, but Hagerty’s throw to Bellamy just beat Parker at the plate for the force out to end the game.
The Cavaliers scored the game’s first three runs with single runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings. In the third, UVa took advantage of a two-out error to score. Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) reached on an error by third baseman Harold Martinez, stole second and scored on a Danny Hultzen (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) single up the middle.
In the fourth, UVa got a leadoff single from Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.), who advanced on a wild pitch, moved to third on a fielder’s choice and scored on a Franco Valdes (Jr., Miami, Fla.) sacrifice fly.
In the sixth, Proscia reached on an error and John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) hit a two-out double to the left-field corner to score the run and give UVa a 3-0 lead.
Grovatt saw his career-best hitting streak to 19 games (21 dating to last season) come to an end after an 0-for-4 day.
Virginia and Miami will play the rubber game of the three-game series at noon Sunday.