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Baseball
Casey, Cavaliers Earn Win at VCU, 5-3
March 31, 2015
March 31, 2015
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RICHMOND, Va. – Behind seven strong innings from starter Derek Casey, the No. 12 Virginia baseball team earned a 5-3 road win over VCU Tuesday evening in front of 3,233 spectators at The Diamond in Richmond, Va. The win was the fifth straight for Virginia (19-8), with each coming on the road. UVa now is 17-4 in games away from home this season.
“The story of the game was Derek Casey,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “Coming back to your hometown in front of a great crowd like this, that’s a lot of pressure. He really responded and pitched seven great innings while showing a lot of poise. This was a big grow-up day for him. It was great to see and you can see why he was so highly thought of coming out of high school.”
A native of nearby Mechanicsville, Va., and Hanover High School, the freshman Casey (2-1) worked a career-high seven innings, allowing a run, four hits and two walks while striking out four as he earned his second straight win. Josh Sborz (Jr., McLean, Va.) pitched the final 1 1/3 innings to earn his eighth save.
VCU starter Daniel Concepcion (1-2) pitched 4 1/3 innings, giving up four runs (two earned), five hits and a pair of walks while striking out four in taking the loss for the Rams (15-12).
Virginia finished with 11 hits, with Adam Haseley (Fr., Windermere, Fla.) going 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored. Haseley now is 13 for his last 23, which encompasses the five-game road swing. Daniel Pinero (So., Toronto, Ontario) and Kenny Towns (Sr., Burke, Va.) each had two hits and two RBI for Virginia.
After going hitless through the first 2 2/3 innings, Virginia strung together a pair of hits in the third to score the game’s first run. Haseley singled to center with two outs and hustled to second when left fielder Jimmy Kerrigan misplayed the ball. Pinero followed with a single to left to bring Haseley home.
The Cavaliers pushed three runs across in the fourth inning. Singles from Kevin Doherty (Jr., Laytonsville, Md.) and Haseley put runners on the corners with one out. Pinero bounced a single up the middle to plate Doherty and after Matt Thaiss (So., Jackson, N.J.) reached on an error to load the bases, Towns lined a single to left to score two and up the lead to 4-0.
UVa pushed its lead to 5-0 in the eighth inning on an RBI single from Haseley, but VCU countered by scoring three runs in its half of the eighth. Casey walked the first batter before giving way to Doherty, who gave up an RBI single to Logan Farrar and a two-run double to Matt Davis. With Davis at second and two out, Sborz took over and got a grounder to short from Darian Carpenter to end the inning.
The Rams threatened again with two outs in the ninth inning, as Cody Acker singled and pinch hitter Ryan Coale reached on an error, but Sborz struck out pinch hitter Shane Dressler to end the game.
The Cavaliers return home at 4 p.m. Wednesday to play VMI in a rescheduled game at Davenport Field; the game originally was scheduled for March 4 but was rained out.
Tickets for the originally scheduled game will be accepted for admission to the rescheduled contest on Wednesday. Fans also may exchange their tickets in advance for a General Admission ticket to any other regular season game by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They also can bring their ticket to the gate for General Admission seating at any remaining regular-season home game, subject to seat availability at the time of arrival.