No. 2 Virginia Defeats James Madison, 9-3

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April 8, 2014

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – The second-ranked Virginia baseball team cruised to a 9-3 win at James Madison Tuesday evening in front of a capacity crowd of 1,632 at Eagle Field at Veterans Memorial Park. Four UVa pitchers combined on a four-hitter as the Cavaliers improved to 28-5 on the season. UVa has allowed 10 hits over the last four games.

Joe McCarthy (So., Scranton, Pa.) went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and four RBI to lead the Virginia offense, which finished with 14 hits. John La Prise (So., Exton, Pa.) was 3-for-3 and reached base safely in all five of his plate appearances, while Mike Papi (Jr., Tunkhannock, Pa.) homered and drove in four runs.

Virginia starting pitcher Alec Bettinger (Fr., Woodbridge, Va.) worked four scoreless innings. Bettinger (4-0) gave up a pair of hits and three walks while striking out one to earn the win. Artie Lewicki (Sr., Wyckoff, N.J.), Whit Mayberry (R-Sr., Alexandria, Va.), Kevin Doherty (So., Laytonsville, Md.) and Austin Young (Sr., Mechanicsville, Va.) combined to surrender two hits over the final five innings. Lewicki struck out five batters in three innings of relief.

In the last 56 innings covering seven games, Virginia has allowed just six runs.

JMU starter Ben Garner (0-1) worked one inning and left the game after being struck with a line drive to end the opening inning. He gave up a pair of runs on McCarthy’s home run.

Virginia scored quickly as Daniel Pinero (Fr., Toronto, Ontario) walked with one out in the first inning and scored when McCarthy hit a towering home run to right-center. It was McCarthy’s third home run of the season.

UVa added a run in the fourth on a Nick Howard (Jr., Olney, Md.) sacrifice fly to score McCarthy who doubled to lead off the inning and advanced on a balk.

Papi cranked a long home run to right field in the fifth inning. The two-run shot was Papi’s team-leading sixth homer of the year and it gave Virginia a 5-0 advantage.

The Cavaliers padded their lead with three runs in the sixth. UVa loaded the bases with none out before reliever Kevin Feehan entered to get Papi to ground into a run-scoring fielder’s choice. McCarthy then ripped a double to the wall in right-center to score a pair and stretch the lead to 8-0.

UVa tacked on a run in the seventh when Papi grounded out to score La Prise.

Down to its final strike in the ninth inning, JMU (11-18) broke up the shutout on a two-run double by Kyle Weston and added a run on a misplayed fly ball that led to a run-scoring triple for Josh Wyatt.

Virginia returns home Friday to start a seven-game homestand at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers face No. 14 Clemson Friday through Sunday (April 11-13) in an ACC series.