After an impressive Friday that saw the Hoos go 2-0 and outscore Rider and Cornell 24-1, the boys did not disappoint on Saturday in their second doubleheader in as many days. UVa began the day with a grinding 4-1 victory over Rider in the early game and followed with a muscle flexing 14-2 win over Cornell is the later game. The two victories showed the different ways that UVa will win games this year. At times they will take advantage of timely hitting and run outbursts while other games they will rely on strong pitching to keep the opponents off the board (mind blowing, I know). The 4 game sweep of the weekend moved the winning streak to 6 in a row and a quite impressive 12-1 record on the year.
Although Rider came into the weekend series as a significant underdog to the Cavaliers I can't imagine anyone was surprised with the close game and lack of offense. From what I have read the Broncs had a soft throwing lefty on the mound and UVa has had difficulty with those pitchers for as long as I can remember. Sure, a slower pitch should be easier to hit, but when you are used to a pitcher throwing in the upper 80s to low 90s it is hard to adjust to a pitch coming in in the lower 80s. Fortunately, Tyler Wilson was on the mound for the Hoos and did what was necessary to keep UVa in the game. Wilson turned in his 3rd impressive start of the season only allowing 4 hits and 1 run in 6.2 IP and striking out 7. Kyle Crockett and Branden Kline finished the game out only allowing one baserunner. Kline picked up his 4th save in the process.
The second game turned out to be more of a victory that the Cavalier fans were used to seeing. Even though the pitching staff had another impressive outing holding Cornell to 2 runs on 5 hits, the offense was what truly won the game against the Big Red. The boys exploded 14 runs including 10 runs in the 7th and 8th innings. UVa was also able to scratch out 18 hits lead by Reed Gragnani, Danny Hultzen, Steven Proscia, Ryan Levine, Kenny Swab, and Dave Coleman, all who had at least 2 hits (thats right, they were lead by 6 of the 9 starters). Most impressive I would say was Dave Coleman's day. Dave went 3 for 4 and had a massive 5 RBIs; that my friends is called doing the job for your team. All in all the Hoos were able to win 14-2 and had 14 different players record an AB ( I love/loved those games).
UVa returns to action tomorrow afternoon against Marshall. Even though the Thundering Herd only have a 5-5 record they have been competitive in all of their games including wins over Kentucky and a narrow defeat at the hands of Coastal Carolina. UVa has defeated Marshall in both games they have played over the last 2 years but both have not bee easy(6-3 and 5-4). Look for the game to be competitive but for the Hoos to come out on top. I will do my best to provide updates as I can on twitter @STLUVABaseball and GO HOOS!