After a game that only a true Cavalier fan would enjoy and love, the baseball team pulled out a victory and took the series from the Pirates in Greenville, NC today.
30 hits. 25 run. 13 pitchers. 37 players total was all it took today for the 'Hoos to pull out a win in the series finale. The scoring started early in the contest with both UVa and ECU securing a run in the first inning. The second inning would belong to UVa as they would go on to score 6 runs in the top half of the inning that would be capped off by a 2 run Home Run by 3rd year Phil Gosselin. That would be just the beginning of the affair as ECU would get another run back in the bottom half then both teams would get 2 more runs in the 4th inning(miraculously, neither team scored in the third). The Cavaliers would break it open a bit more in the 6th inning by scoring 4 more runs making the score 13-4(if you are following along at home). Not to be outdone the Pirates would score 7 runs(yes, that is correct, 7 runs) in the 8th inning off of 3 Cavalier pitchers You would think that all the scoring would be done going into the 9th with a score of 13-11, but of course not as the Wahoos would get an insurance run in the 9th to make it 14-11 which would end up being the final score.
Every starter in the Cavalier lineup had at least one hit while both 2nd year Keith Werman and 3rd year Dan Grovatt had three hits a piece. Cody Winiarski started the game for the Cavaliers on the mount but was only able to go 3 and 2/3 before being relieved by 4th year Neal Davis. Four more pitchers were used(Grovatt, Hunt, Wilson, & Arico) before the end of the game which saw the UVa ERA increase quite a bit.
The win today moved the Cavaliers record to 2-1 overall and gave them the series. It is a huge win for the team as it was arguably the matchup of the weekend and one that will give the team, the fans, and the NCAA tournament selection committee reason to believe that this team is for real and here to stay. On another note, the #1 ranked University of Texas lost two of three to the University of New Mexico which means #1 is more than likely up for grabs. While I don't have vote, Baseball America's head college baseball writer hinted in a tweet that the Cavaliers would be #1 going into next week. If that happens, that will be the highest ranking(obviously) in school history. It will also be the first time in school history that the baseball team is ranked #1 in the nation.
The team will return to action on Wednesday when they face George Washington University who gave UNC all that they could handle this past weekend. I am hearing rumors that Wednesdays game as well as Fridays series opener against Rhode Island will be played at Christopher Newport University in Newport News due to the snow that is still on the Dav in Charlottesville.