Junior pitcher Will Roberts' streak of 34 consecutive outs ended during the second inning last night. His streak of 21 straight scoreless innings stayed perfectly intact, however, as the top-ranked Cavalier baseball team blanked Radford, 2-0, and notched its ninth shutout of the season and 10th win in a row.
"I was just glad to get back out on the mound, because it's been kind of a long week," Roberts said. "When they got the hit in the second inning, I really wasn't too worried about it, because I [had known] my chances of going back out throwing another perfect game were pretty much zero."
Roberts may not have tossed another perfect game, but for the second week in a row, the right-handed hurler saved a Cavalier team that struggled to drive in runs.
"It's another night where if Will Roberts doesn't go out and have a great outing, we might not win that game," coach Brian O'Connor said.
Virginia (29-2) stranded 15 runners in scoring position last night, but the team's strong pitching and defense rendered the Highlanders' offense equally inefficient.
Radford's sophomore shortstop Jeff Kemp led off the fourth inning with a single over the shortstop's head, advanced to second on a while pitch and took third on a balk. With one out, junior first baseman Matt Mack lifted the ball to right field, where senior outfielder David Coleman made the catch and gunned a perfect one-hop throw to home. Senior catcher Kenny Swab blocked Kemp at the plate, cutting his hand during the collision but nevertheless hanging on to make the tag. "That was definitely huge for us," Roberts said of the play. "That was a game changer, because if they scored right there it could have been a totally different game."
The Highlanders (16-12) threatened again in the sixth, as freshman catcher Daniel Wright opened the frame with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Roberts bore down, however, by striking the next batter out on a slider in the dirt and then pushing a 3-2 slider past Kemp to escape the jam.
"Those were their two top guys, so we were going to make them hit our pitch," Roberts said. "I think that was a big lift for our team, that's what we needed, just a little bit of energy to get going."\nThe Cavaliers harnessed that energy and finally broke through in the bottom half of the frame. Senior second baseman Keith Werman drew a leadoff walk and then faked a steal to second, creating a hole large enough for Taylor to single through the infield's right side. Senior left fielder John Barr then smoked a grounder to the shortstop, who bobbled the ball and rushed his toss to second. The throw squirted past the second baseman and allowed Werman to score.
Virginia added an insurance run during the seventh when sophomore center fielder Reed Gragnani tripled to bring junior first baseman Jared King home from third. The bullpen did not need the cushion, though. Freshman pitcher Kyle Crockett threw a scoreless eighth, and sophomore closer Branden Kline set down the batters in order during the ninth. Kline notched his 11th save, which is tied for the most in the nation, and lowered his ERA to 1.02.
"Crockett, out of the pen, he's throwing really well," Coleman said. "Having [Kline] close things out - it's good to be on this side"
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