The 14 runs the offense were able to put up on the scoreboard on Tuesday night tied two previous outputs of 14 runs for the most of the season. Unfortunately, they came at a price.
In the second inning, Danny Pinero came to the plate after Adam Haseley lead off the inning with a single. After taking the first pitch for a ball, the 2nd year shortstop was hit in the face by an errant pitch, forcing him out of the game.
The injury bug wasn't done.
Two outs into the third inning, Derek Casey threw a pitch to the backstop. After the pitch, Coach O'Connor, Kuhn, and trainer Brian Maguire came out to examine the freshman. Not pleased with what they found out, Casey was removed. The loss of Casey might be more discouraging than the possible loss of Pinero since Nathan Kirby was thought to be out for this upcoming weekend, and Casey was likely to fill in the weekend rotation.
Luckily, the rest of the game was far less interesting. The Hoos offense was able to rack up 14 runs on 16 hits and 3 walks cementing the victory. Matt Thaiss continued to have an excellent year adding four more hits, including a three run home run, to go with 4 RBI and 2 runs scored. Fellow catcher Robbie Coman was 2 for 4 on his own with 3 RBI and two runs scored.
After Casey was removed, Coach O'Connor had to turn to the bullpen, who was able to hold Longwood at bay to assure the victory. While the Lancers were able to tag David Rosenberger and Jack Roberts for five more runs, four of them came via the longball. The best sign of the night was neither Roberts nor Rosenberger surrendering a walk in in their long relief outings.
The win pushed the UVa record to 25-15 on the season. They'll host Liberty Wednesday night in a critical midweek game. UVa won the first game in Lynchburg 10-7, and need another win over the Flames to help their RPI.