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It's not going to be a shock to anyone this year when the Cavalier offense is able to score 10+ runs in any game this season; this team is built to score runs in bunches. It is not every game though that the pitching staff puts on such a dominant performance as they did today.
Toledo is not South Carolina by any means, but today's pitching was reminiscent of Danny Hultzen, Branden Kline, and Co.'s performance in the 2011 College World Series against the Gamecocks. Brandon Waddell set the tone from the start and was absolutely dominant his entire time on the mound. I was trying to come up with a cool stat about he he struck out x of the first x batters he faced, but it just doesn't fit. Toledo was overmatched the entire time Waddell was on the mound. He faced 25 batters in six innings, only gave up six hits, and only walked one. More impressive was the fact that HE STRUCK OUT 15 BATTERS! 15 of the 25 guys he faced. I don't do math (that's why I went to Law School), so I can't give you that ratio, but I know it's high.
The dominance didn't stop there either. 2nd Nate Abel and 1st year Kevin Doherty relieved Waddell and struck out three more batters over the final three innings. In all, even though it might be Toledo, a shutout in college baseball is something to be impressed about; boys can pitch.
The offense didn't want to be overshadowed and had their best offensive performance to date. Four of the starting nine recorded multi-hit games, five of the nine had multiple RBI, and five of the nine scored multiple runs. Most didn't play the entire game. 2nd year Nick Howard had the best game going four for five with two doubles, three runs scored, and three RBI. Fellow 2nd year Brandon Cogswell had three hits of his own, as well as three runs.
As a whole, the offense scored 15 runs on 15 hits and six RBI. Coupled that with the fact that they only struck out four times the entire game, and you have a well rounded offensive performance.
The Cavaliers and Rockets play game two of the set tomorrow at 1. Judging from the weather forecast for Charlottesville tomorrow, IT GOIN BE COLD AND IT GOIN RAIN! I'll do my best to provide Twitter updates until the game gets so ugly I can't stave off a midday nap anymore. Of course, GO HOOS!