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No. 1 Cavaliers Top George Washington, 5-2
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-ranked Virginia baseball team opened its 2010 home schedule with a 5-2 victory over George Washington Wednesday afternoon at Davenport Field. UVa, in its first game ever as the nation’s No. 1-ranked team, built a 5-0 lead through four innings, then cruised to the victory from there.
Will Roberts (So., Richmond, Va.) made a strong opening start for the Cavaliers (3-1), going 5.2 innings and allowing two earned runs, five hits and two walks while striking out one as he earned his first victory of 2010. He shut out the Colonials for five innings before giving up a pair of runs in the sixth. Kevin Arico (Jr., Flemington, N.J.) pitched the final 1.1 innings to nab his second save. It also was his 13th career save, as he moved into a fourth-place tie on the all-time UVa saves ledger with Todd Ruyak (1989-92).
At the plate, Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.) led UVa with three hits. Virginia finished with 10 hits as a team, and UVa once again showed its offensive balance as eight of the Cavaliers’ nine starters recorded at least one hit.
GW starter Jeff Griffith was credited with the defeat after going three innings and allowing two earned runs, three hits and four walks. Tom Zebroski paced the Colonials (0-4) with three hits.
Virginia drew first blood with a third-inning run. With one out, Danny Hultzen (So., Bethesda, Md.) coaxed a walk. He then stole second and scored on a Dan Grovatt (Jr., Tabernacle, N.J.) double into the right-field corner.
UVa broke the game open with a four-run fourth inning. John Hicks (So., Sandy Hook, Va.) led off with a double and advanced on a Griffith wild pitch. Hicks scored when Kenny Swab (Jr., Kernersville, N.C.) grounded out to first base. Keith Werman (So., Vienna, Va.) then singled to center. With Werman running on the pitch, Gosselin singled to center, and when center fielder Brendon Kelliher bobbled the ball, Werman scored all the way from first and Gosselin moved to second. Hultzen then doubled to left-center to plate Gosselin. Grovatt followed with a walk and both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) then hit a sacrifice fly to right to plate Hultzen and give UVa a 5-0 advantage.
George Washington got on the board with a pair of sixth-inning runs. With one out, Zebroski reached on an infield single. One out later, Chris Luick and Kelliher hit back-to-back singles to bring in Zebroski. UVa went to reliever Whit Mayberry (Fr., Alexandria, Va.), who gave up a double just inside the bag and down the first-base line to Tyler McCarthy, which scored Luick to cut UVa’s lead to 5-2.
UVa used key relief pitching in the eighth inning to thwart a potential GW rally. After GW put runners on second and third with none out, Neal Davis (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) struck out Luick looking, then forced pinch hitter Paul Pakan to ground out to the pitcher’s mound while holding both runners. Arico then came on and fanned McCarthy to end the inning.
The Cavaliers continue their nine-game homestand this weekend, playing host to Rhode Island in a three-game series. The teams start the series at 3 p.m. Friday, then will play 1 p.m. games Saturday and Sunday.