Things started out terribly for the Hoos yesterday against George Washington. UVa's Barrett O'Neill didn't make it out of the first inning and gave up four runs quickly. Luckily for the Hoos, things then got out of hand quickly the other way. The Cavaliers went on to score in four straight innings and when all was said and done entering the fifth, the Hoos were leading 14-4 and Coach O'Connor called me to see if I wanted an AB (Seriously! Ok, he didn't really :-( ).
Shane Halley took over for O'Neill in the first and held GW scoreless over the next three plus innings only issuing one walk and allowing one hit. Halley was also able to strike out six and set the tone for the team after O'Neill wasn't able to. Nick Howard, Nathan Abel, and Joell Effertz combined to shutout the Colonials over the last five innings to secure the victory. All in all, even though the staff gave up nine hits in the game, they were still able to strike out 14 GW batters and only allowed three walks (two of which came from O'Neill in the first). It certainly wasn't a perfect game like the last time the two teams squared off a year ago but it was more than enough for another W.
At the plate, only two Cavaliers in the starting lineup, but surprisingly only Fourth Year Jared King had a multi hit game. Five Hoos in the lineup did register multi RBI games and four guys in the lineup scored multiple runs.
Keeping up with the tradition that this team has established of hitting only triples, King, Howard, and Cogswell all registereda three bagger at some point. The team entered the game seven triples ahead of New Mexico for the NCAA lead and the Lobos didn't play yesterday. So, assuming Texas didn't hit three triples of their own in their game (they didn't because they didn't play), the Hoos now lead the NCAA by 10 triples. Rareified air if I do say so myself. Shockingly to me, this team has not set a new UVa single season triples record yet. That number belongs to the 2010 team who had 32 on the year.
The boys have Thursday off before returning to the field Friday to host UNC. The Hoos are riding a 5 game winning streak, a 15 game home winning streak, and haven't lost an ACC home series since March 2009. This will be the series everyone will have their eyes on and all of Charlottesville needs to be there! Until then, wait to see what else Ozzie Guillen can say, see how the Braves can lose a game, and of course Go Hoos!