The game between No. 16 Virginia and No. 19? Coastal Carolina Tuesday was billed as an ACC-caliber game. As the drama escalated through the first seven innings that featured shut-down pitching, timely hitting and controversial calls on both sides, the two teams did not disappoint, battling to a 3-3 score. The Chanticleers, however, pounded the Virginia bullpen for a four-run eighth and another run in the ninth, pulling away an 8-3 victory.
After fighting back from a 3-1 deficit to a 3-3 score in the sixth, freshman righthander Jake Cowan pitched a scoreless seventh and toed the mound with the same score to start the eighth. A leadoff single, a sacrifice bunt, a walk and an RBI single later, however, and Cowan was pulled from the game in favor of sophomore southpaw Jeff Lorick for a lefty-lefty matchup with senior outfielder Tommy Baldridge. Lorick got the job done, fanning Baldridge, and O'Connor inserted senior Jake Rule with two outs in the inning.
The transfer from William & Mary had been struggling for most of the season coming into this game, sporting a balloon-like 9.77 ERA, but had showed promise in his last two appearances, throwing a scoreless inning each against Liberty and Maryland, though they were in blowout games in Virginia's favor. Faced with a pressure situation, however, Rule collapsed, walking the first two batters to score one before allowing a two-run single to freshman Rico Noel, hitting just .217, and balking on the next batter to move the runners on first and second into scoring position. O'Connor then yanked Rule for freshman Robert Morey, who earned a strikeout to end the long inning, but the damage had been done.
"The last two times he's been out I thought he's thrown the ball very well," O'Connor said. "I'm looking for him to go out there and get one out so I can turn the next inning over to somebody else and, unfortunately, he can't get that out."
In addition to the four-run eighth, however, Virginia can look back at missed offensive opportunities that cost the team the game. The Cavaliers had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth and a runner on third with no outs in the sixth, but were unable to cash in on either occasion.
Coastal Carolina "performed in the clutch, both on the mound and at the plate, and we didn't, and if you don't do that, you're not going to beat a top 25 team," O'Connor said. "You can't have a runner at third base with no outs and not score him."
Starting pitching dominated the first five innings; sophomore Matt Packer gave up just four hits and struck out four in 4.1 innings on Virginia's side, and Coastal Carolina's dynamite starter, freshman Cody Wheeler, allowed just three hits and fanned seven in 4.2 innings.
"The way [Wheeler] pitched tonight, I wish we would have recruited him," O'Connor said. "I like how the kid pulls his hat down; he's all business, and he works. He deserved to have success tonight because he was aggressive."
It was Wheeler, however, who bit first in the third. With freshman third baseman Corey Hunt, who was a last-minute addition to the starting lineup after senior Patrick Wingfield pulled his groin in warm-ups, O'Connor said, standing on second, sophomore shortstop Tyler Cannon yanked a three-hopper down the right field line. Landing in foul ground a few feet behind first base, home plate umpire Tim O'Toole ruled the ball fair, and Hunt came around to score. Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore raced out of the dugout to have an angry word with O'Toole, but it was to no avail, and Virginia grabbed the early lead.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Virginia got into its first trouble spot as Packer loaded the bases on a fielding error, a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a five-pitch walk. The good news for the Cavaliers, however, was that Packer was facing the last batter in the order in Noel, who came in hitting .214 and having four hits in his previous 30 plate appearances.
Packer, however, perhaps rattled after walking the bases loaded, fell behind 3-0. Noel was taking all the way on the next two pitches, however, and Packer delivered two down-the-middle fastballs to work the count full. Packer went fastball-fastball on the next two pitches as well, but this time the stubborn Noel fouled them back to the screen to stay alive.
"I shouldn't have been in that [3-0] count," Packer said. "Once I went 3-0, I just threw it right down the middle. It just had to be a strike."
Then came the pitch that was the beginning of the end for Packer. Determined to force Noel to put the ball in play, Packer again went to the fastball; the pitch got away from Packer just a bit, however, and Noel got just a little lower in his stance and watched ball four whiz by no more than an inch out of the strike zone, as called by O'Toole. The crowd howled, and O'Connor shouted from the dugout, but senior David Anderson trotted in from home to tie the game at one.
With junior David Sappelt at the top of order standing in, the wheels finally came off for Packer, as Sappelt lined a 2-2 pitch to left scoring two more runs. O'Connor wasted no time coming out to pull his starter and took the opportunity to yap at O'Toole all the way out to the mound.
Sophomore Neal Davis was excellent in relief, getting a ground-out from .341-hitter freshman Scott Woodward and fanning .411-hitter sophomore Adam Rice to minimize the damage in the fifth, and pitching a scoreless sixth before he was relieved by Cowan.
The Cavaliers got back in the game in the sixth. With no outs, freshman Dan Grovatt doubled, and freshman David Coleman looped a pinch-hit single into left that got by left fielder Rice, scoring Grovatt. Sophomore Franco Valdes followed with an RBI triple to right, scoring Coleman and knotting the game at three with no outs. Unfortunately, Valdes was stranded on third, as both Hunt and freshman Jarrett Parker struck out looking, and junior Greg Miclat grounded to the pitcher to end the inning and Virginia's hopes of regaining the lead.
Virginia stays at Davenport Field for a three-game series against Wake Forest this weekend.
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