Baseball Falls to Cavaliers in Series Opener

March 29, 2013

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – On a chilly Friday night for baseball at Davenport Field, the Miami Hurricanes fell to No. 9 Virginia by a final margin of 15-4.

The Hurricanes (19-10, 4-7 ACC) struck early in the series opener, plating a run off Cavaliers’ starter Brandon Waddell in the top half of the first inning. After opposite field singles from Alex Hernandez and Alex San Juan set up the scoring opportunity, junior Brad Fieger delivered a two-out RBI basehit up the middle to give Miami a 1-0 advantage.

The visitors looked to be in prime position to tack on to their early lead, but a close third strike call to freshman Christopher Barr with the bases loaded ended the scoring opportunity.

Trailing 4-1 after RBI doubles from Virginia’s Brandon Downes and Mike Papi, the Hurricanes responded with three runs in the fourth, chasing Waddell out after just 3.0+ frames. The lefthander plunked Michael Broad to lead off the inning, then allowed back-to-back walks to Dale Carey and Barr. With the bases loaded, Waddell issued a four-pitch free pass to pinch hitter Tyler Palmer, walking in a run before being pulled in favor of Austin Young.

The righthanded reliever nearly got out of the jam with no further damage, striking out Ricky Eusebio and inducing a potential double play ball from Hernandez. But after a forceout at second, infielder Reed Gragnani’s throw sailed into the visiting dugout, plating two runs to knot the game at 4-4.

After the Cavaliers (24-2, 8-2 ACC) scored a run in the bottom of the fourth to regain a 5-4 lead, the Hurricanes looked to have something building in the top of the sixth when Barr reached via single and Carey’s sacrifice bunt was mishandled by Young for a two-on, none-out situation. Palmer’s sacrifice bunt advanced both runners a base, but a groundout from Eusebio and a shallow popout from Hernandez ended the scoring chance.

Lefthander Chris Diaz (3-2) scattered 10 hits in his 5.1 innings of work, striking out two batters while walking none. He exited in the sixth with his team trailing 6-4 after allowing an RBI single to Gragnani. With two runners on and just one out, senior Eric Whaley got out of a tough jam by inducing a double play. Whaley struck out Brandon Cogswell and San Juan’s throw to second caught Gragnani in time, maintaining the deficit at just two runs.

Despite Waddell’s struggles, Young (3-0) was effective in relief, and stymied the Hurricanes’ offense through his 3.2 innings of work. After plating three in the fourth, the visitors would be held scoreless the rest of the way.

Virginia scored nine insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Miami dropped only its second series opener of the season in the defeat.

The two teams will return to Davenport Field Saturday for game two of the series. First pitch for the contest, set to be televised on RSN / ESPN3, is set for 1 p.m.