The slim crowd at a rain-soaked Davenport Field must have thought the Virginia baseball team was playing an April Fool’s joke through the first five innings of the Cavaliers’ game against Norfolk State last night. Blowout wins had been the typical storyline for midweek non-conference games for Virginia.
The upset-minded Spartans, however, held a 2-1 lead after five innings last night before giving up two runs in the sixth inning and three runs in the seventh to eventually succumb to the Cavaliers 6-2.
Norfolk State senior pitcher Jason Barker recorded a no decision but pitched a solid 4 1/3 innings for the overmatched Spartans (6-10, 3-2 MEAC), putting them in position to win the game before he was pulled in the fifth inning. The senior struck out three Cavaliers and only gave up one run.
“Baseball’s a funny game,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “You have to credit [Barker]. He’s up there spinning breaking balls — he wasn’t throwing very hard, throwing changeups. He got our guys chasing a little bit out on their front foot, and when you’re hitting out there on your front foot, it’s tough to square the ball up.”
Even after the veteran Barker was pulled for sophomore Ryan Davis in the middle of the fifth inning with the bases loaded and one out, Virginia (24-4, 6-4 ACC) could not capitalize as freshman first baseman John Hicks popped out to the infield and junior catcher Franco Valdes flied out to left field. Hicks went 0-for-5 on the night, breaking his 11-game hit streak.
“When you’re down in a game that everybody feels like you should win you feel a little extra pressure to perform in the clutch.” O’Connor said. “We just didn’t get it done [in the fifth].
The sixth and seventh innings were different stories for the Cavaliers, however, as they turned Spartan mistakes into Virginia runs.
With one out in the sixth, sophomore left fielder David Coleman drew a walk then advanced to second base when freshman shortstop Keith Werman grounded out to Davis, who bobbled the ball, ending the chance of a double play. Sophomore centerfielder Jarrett Parker was then intentionally walked and advanced on a balk by Davis. Finally, sophomore second baseman Phil Gosselin walked to set up a bases-loaded situation for freshman designated hitter Danny Hultzen who, up to that point, was 0-for-2 on the night with a walk.
The freshman came through, however, and managed to smack a single to center field, bringing home Coleman and Parker to put the Cavaliers in front of the Spartans 3-2.
“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit,” Hultzen said. “[Davis] threw me a couple curve balls in the dirt so I was just looking for a fastball and luckily I got one and was able to put a good swing on it.”
With one out in the seventh, Valdes struck out but reached first on a passed ball. From there, the situation snowballed for Virginia. Freshman third baseman Jared King notched a base hit, and both he and Valdes advanced to third and second bases, respectively, on a wild pitch, putting two runners in scoring position for Coleman. Coleman widened Virginia’s lead to 5-2 with a sharp liner past junior third baseman Chris Joyce, scoring King and Valdes. Coleman then advanced to third on an overthrow to second by sophomore catcher Cameron Parsons, and Parker followed with another hit, giving the Cavaliers one more run.
“We capitalized when it was the most important time,” O’Connor said. “It wasn’t pretty by any means ... They had to give us a little help there to get us jump started.”
From there, the relief pitcher duo of freshman Justin Thompson and senior Brad Grove shut the door on Norfolk’s State’s hopes of a rally by pitching a scoreless two innings combined. Freshman Shane Halley (2-0) picked up the win for the Cavaliers after tossing 3 1/3 innings in relief — striking out three and only yielding one hit.
“That is the most I’ve pitched all year [in one game],” Halley said. “I felt good out there. I was a little wild, sort of all over the place. Franco Valdes really put up with my stuff. I couldn’t get a curveball over to save my life. I just tried to hang on as long as possible. I knew my guys were going to come behind me and hit. It just took us awhile to catch on.”
Halley came in for junior starting pitcher Jeff Lorick, who had control issues and was pulled after 3 2/3 innings.
“[Lorick’s] command wasn’t good today,” O’Connor said. “He’s done some good things for us this year. He just needs to continue to work on his command. It’s tough to win when you’re pitching behind in the count. Fortunately though, Shane Halley came in and did a great job out of the bullpen and kept us right there and gave us a chance.”
Halley’s one-hit, shutout pitching performance was especially important for the Cavaliers, who were slow to get started on offense. The Spartans put the first run on the board in the second inning and the Cavaliers drew even in the third when Parker blasted a home run over the right field wall for his seventh long ball of the year.
“When I hit the home run I was just trying to get something started,” Parker said. “The pitcher from Norfolk State was throwing a lot of offspeed [pitches] and we’ve been used to hitting fastballs, so we had to take a different approach and it took us awhile to get used to.”
Norfolk State struck again in the fourth with the bases loaded and one out when a wild pitch allowed freshman designated hitter Jermaine Berry to cross the plate, giving the Spartans their second lead of the game.
“You don’t come out and hammer everybody for 10 or 12 runs every time,” O’Connor said.
Though the Cavaliers did not pound the baseball every time they were up to the plate in their grind-it-out 6-2 win against Norfolk State, they certainly did do that at Radford Tuesday in a 12-2 win. Virginia used a nine-run second inning to cruise to the easy victory.
“The first two innings [against Radford], we swung the bat — in a two-inning period — the best I think we have all year,” O’Connor said. “Every guy that stepped up to the plate was laying off pitchers’ pitches and hitting our pitches. It was really, really impressive — twice through the lineup — to be able to square the ball up as much as we did.”
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