While most Virginia students headed home for a relaxing spring break, the Cavalier baseball team remained hard at work, hitting the diamond everyday in some highly competitive match-ups.
Virginia started their week with a doubleheader last Monday at No. 12 Richmond. The major league scouts turned out in droves to witness highly touted Richmond hurler Tim Stauffer strikeout 13 Cavalier batters in a 2-1 Richmond victory. Virginia batters didn't fare much better in the second game, plating only one run on four hits in another tough 2-1 loss. The Cavalier bullpen, however, did prove that they could pitch effectively against some of the best sluggers in college baseball.
"We can go to our bullpen and bring some guys out of there and they know their role and you feel like you can interchange them," Virginia coach Dennis Womack said. "We've got a nice mix of left- and right-handed pitchers."
After numerous cancellations and schedule changes due to snow and rain, Virginia finally took to Davenport Field for their home opener last Tuesday against JMU. Sophomore starting pitcher Andrew Dobies allowed only two runs over 7.2 innings of work, as the Cavaliers earned a 3-2 victory. Virginia's home field advantage was instrumental in lifting the Cavaliers over the Dukes.
"It's nice being at home and not getting ragged on all the time by the fans," sophomore infielder Mark Reynolds said. "It feels good to have the fans behind you."
The Cavalier sticks finally came alive when Navy came to town on Wednesday. Virginia pounded out 15 hits in its 12-1 demolition of the Midshipmen. Junior left-handed pitcher Joe Koshansky earned the win with six quality innings of work, while senior outfielder Chris Sweet piled up the stats with four hits and three RBIs.
"We went to Richmond and lost two straight tough games," Reynolds said. "After that everyone was pretty down, and right then and there we decided we needed to go on a winning streak."
Next on the agenda was a three-game weekend series against Charlotte. As expected, pitching dominated the first two games of the series. Virginia won both games by the score of 3-2. Junior right-handed pitcher Jeff Kamrath struck out 11 Charlotte batters in Friday's win while junior right-handed pitcher Chris Gale picked up his first win of the season on Saturday. In both games Virginia relied heavily on small ball tactics at the plate, to complement its pitching corps.
"We're going to have to bunt the ball and hit and run," Womack said. "We're not a team that can just walk up there and wear the ball out. We're the type of team that has to do a lot of small ball stuff."
The Cavaliers went into Sunday's game hoping to sweep the 49ers and win their fifth straight.They not only won, but they finally combined pitching and hitting to dominate Charlotte. Freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Avery picked up the win, as Virginia piled on the runs in their 11-5 victory.Highlighting the game was Mark Reynolds' towering home run that cleared the "blue monster" in centerfield to seal a Virginia victory.Reynolds now holds the distinction as the first and only player thus far to homer over the massive hitter's backdrop at Davenport Field.
"That's the first time I've come close to hitting the wall, let alone hitting it over the wall," Reynolds said. "Off the bat I thought it was going to hit off the wall and I was digging for a triple, but then everyone started cheering."
The Cavaliers extended their winning streak yesterday, with a home field win over No. 25 UNC-Greensboro. Virginia returns to action today at 3 p.m. in hopes of sweeping their two game series against the Spartans.
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