With two outs and the bases loaded in the second inning, Virginia sophomore third basemen Tyler Cannon faced a full count. With the Cavalier fans clapping in time in support, Cannon drove a base-clearing double over the head of the left fielder to the warning track. These runs gave the Virginia baseball team a commanding four-run lead, two more than the team would need to defeat Georgetown 9-1 last night.
"Here, playing at home, we're pretty good," Virginia starting pitcher Jacob Thompson said. "We've got to keep that rep up."
The top of the Cavalier order got the better of the Hoyas in the second inning. Following Cannon's double, junior second basemen David Adams brought him home with a two-run homer over the left field fence.
A short rain delay in the middle of the fourth inning cooled the Cavalier bats somewhat, and Virginia scored only three more runs. Georgetown faced offensive pressure from the Cavaliers throughout the game as Virginia hitters spread 10 hits off five Hoya pitchers.
Freshman left fielder Dan Grovatt went 4-4 with three doubles and three runs batted in to lead the offensive charge.
"As a hitter you strive to be perfect," Grovatt said. "It's pretty much impossible but it works out sometimes."
Defensively, the Cavaliers held Georgetown to only one run on four hits. This was in large part because of a solid stand by the Virginia infield, which combined for three double plays.
"That's usually my game," Thompson said. "Keeping the ball low, getting a lot of ground balls and double plays."
Thompson pitched the first three innings for the Cavaliers and held the Hoyas to no runs on two hits. Earlier in the season, Thompson had been Virginia's pitching ace, starting Friday in the number one spot; however, because of a rocky performance during recent games, he was moved down to the Saturday spot for the first time this past weekend. Following yet another disappointing showing, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor gave Thompson the start yesterday.
"His whole career here he has pitched on the weekend, never pitched in the middle of the week," O'Connor said. "Quite frankly, I wanted to change something for him, try to break his routine. But he pitched with command tonight, and we'll see how effective he is on Saturday."
With the Georgetown game behind them, the Cavaliers will face William & Mary tonight and then Miami in a three-game conference series this weekend. During the Saturday game, Thompson will once again lead the Cavaliers from the mound.
"The team has a lot of confidence in Jacob," O'Connor said. "Fortunately, on Jacob's part, we were able to keep his pitch count down [last night]. Maybe wearing him down a little bit, pitching him like we did today, maybe he won't be as live on Saturday and he'll have to pitch more."
In the balance of the Miami series' outcome are the Cavaliers' hopes to find their way back into the consensus national top 25.
"It's going to be huge for us," Thompson said about the series. Senior pitcher Pat McAnaney is "going to start us out on the right foot on Friday, and hopefully me and [junior pitcher] Andrew [Carraway] can follow up on Saturday and Sunday. But all the guys are definitely excited about that. And we know they have a great ballclub. But," Thompson added with a pause and a smile, "we've got a great team too"
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