No. 1 Virginia Blanks George Washington, 10-0
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April 2, 2014
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-ranked Virginia baseball team rolled to a 10-0 victory over George Washington Wednesday at Davenport Field. Virginia (25-4) recorded its eighth straight victory as well as its 15th consecutive win at Davenport Field. George Washington drops to 7-18 with the loss.
Every Virginia starter scored at least one run. Branden Cogswell (Jr., Ballston Lake, N.Y.) tied a career high with four hits, going 4-for-5 a day after racking up three hits against Old Dominion. Kenny Towns (Jr., Burke, Va.) picked up a pair of doubles as well as two RBI, while John La Prise (So., Exton, Pa.) also recorded two hits.
Virginia starting pitcher Artie Lewicki (Sr., Wyckoff, N.J.) worked three innings while on a limited pitch count to earn the win. In making his first start since Feb. 19, Lewicki (2-0) gave up one hit and struck out a batter. Lewicki combined with relievers David Rosenberger (So., Bethlehem, Pa.), Austin Young (Sr., Mechanicsville, Va.) and Cameron Tekker (So., Waxhaw, N.C.) on a six-hitter as the Cavaliers picked up their third shutout of the season.
Virginia sent eight batters to the plate in scoring four runs in the second inning. The first five Cavaliers reached safely. After a leadoff walk to Brandon Downes (Jr., South Plainfield, N.J.), Joe McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) ripped a triple into the right-field corner. He scored on a Matt Thaiss (Fr., Jackson, N.J.) single. Towns followed with a two-run double to left-center.
The Cavaliers added a run without the benefit of a hit in the third inning. Mike Papi (Jr., Tunkhannock, Pa.) drew a leadoff walk and moved station to station before scoring on a grounder to first by Thaiss.
Virginia scored again in the sixth as Towns cranked a leadoff double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Cogswell dragged a bunt down the first-baseline for a single.
UVa tacked on four runs in the eighth inning. With one out, five straight Cavaliers reached base safely. La Prise doubled and scored on a Cogswell single to center. Daniel Pinero (Fr., Toronto, Ontario) was hit by a pitch, and both runners advanced on failed pickoff throw to second by Andrew Piccin. After Piccin intentionally walked Papi, Downes lined a run-scoring single to left. A wild pitch scored Pinero, and pinch hitter Robert Bennie (So., Stroudsburg, Pa.) drove in the final run with a groundout to second.
Virginia heads to Pittsburgh this weekend for a three-game ACC series with the Panthers. It marks the programs’ first meeting since 1981.