No. 9 Baseball Sees Late Rally Fall Short
| LINESCORE | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| UM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 2 |
| UVA | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | X | 5 | 11 | 2 |
| PITCHING | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | |||||||
| W – D. Rosenberger (1-0) | 2.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||||
| L. – T. Woodrey (4-2) | 6.2 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| INDIVIDUAL LEADERS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | HR | |||||||
| UM – B. Lopez | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||||||
| UVA – J. McCarthy | 4 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 9 Miami staged a late rally but came up just short Friday in its series opener at Virginia, falling to the host Cavaliers 5-4 at Davenport Field.
Trailing by three runs in the seventh inning, Miami (29-10, 14-5 ACC) cut into the deficit with some timely hitting from the bottom of the order. An RBI triple from Christopher Barr and a pinch-hit RBI single from sophomore Johnny Ruiz put Miami within one, giving the Hurricanes late life.
The visitors tacked on a run and cut the deficit to 5-4 in the top of the ninth on an RBI groundout from Garrett Kennedy that plated Barr, who doubled to open the inning.
But with the tying run on third base, Virginia closer Josh Sborz finished off his 10th save of the season to secure the win for Virginia. The righthander tossed the final 2.1 innings to help secure the victory.
Virginia (23-14, 8-11 ACC) tagged Miami lefthander Thomas Woodrey for single runs in the third and fourth innings to take an early 2-0 lead. An RBI double from Daniel Pinero opened the scoring with one out in the third, while an RBI single from Kevin Doherty in the fourth doubled Virginia’s lead.
In both instances, Woodrey worked out of jams to avoid further damage. The junior southpaw retired Cavaliers cleanup hitter Kenny Towns on a weak groundout to strand Pinero at third base, and got leadoff hitter Adam Haseley to ground into a fielder’s choice to strand two runners in the fourth.
Virginia All-American lefthander Nathan Kirby allowed two hits in three innings before being lifted in favor of lefthander David Rosenberger to start the fourth. Kirby tossed just 38 pitches in the brief outing.
Miami got a run back in the fifth on an RBI groundout from Carl Chester. Back-to-back singles from Willie Abreu and Brandon Lopez off Rosenberger opened the inning, and a sacrifice bunt from Barr put two runners in scoring position for the speedy outfielder.
The freshman’s sharply hit grounder to short plated Abreu to cut the deficit to 2-1. Miami had a chance to tie it when Ricky Eusebio came up with an infield single to short, but Lopez was thrown out at home trying to score from third base.
A two-RBI double from Robbie Coman in the bottom of the fifth bumped Virginia’s lead to 4-1.
Though he was tagged for eight hits, Woodrey (4-2) delivered a 6.2-inning outing that kept Miami in the contest. The Lighthouse Point, Fla., native went at least six innings for the ninth straight start before giving way to righthander Cooper Hammond in the seventh.
Woodrey exited after 103 pitches, receiving an appreciative round of applause from the 3,589 in attendance.
Facing a 4-1 deficit in the middle innings, the Hurricanes would not go quietly. The visitors struck for two runs in the seventh off Virginia reliever Alex Bettinger to cut the deficit to just 4-3.
An RBI triple from Barr to the gap in right-center plated Lopez (walk) to make it 4-2, while an RBI single from pinch hitter Ruiz lifted into rightfield pushed Miami closer.
The triple was the third of Barr’s career and second of the season. Sborz entered with two outs in the seventh and retired George Iskenderian on a foul out down the first base line to strand two runners and maintain Virginia’s slim lead.
The Cavaliers scored a run on an RBI double in the eighth off Miami reliever Michael Mediavilla that moved their lead back to two at 5-3.
But Sborz allowed a run in the ninth, with the trouble beginning when Barr doubled and pinch hitter Jacob Heyward reached on an infield error. A sacrifice bunt from Eusebio moved both runners into scoring position for Kennedy, whose ground out to second made it 5-4.
Iskenderian, who came up with a dramatic 10th-inning single to lead Miami to a walk-off win against FAU last week, could not come up with similar magic against Sborz. The junior grounded out to second base to cut Miami’s thrilling comeback attempt just short.
Miami continues its weekend in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday for game two of its weekend series against Virginia. First pitch for the game, slated for broadcast on WVUM 90.5 FM, is set for 1 p.m. from Davenport Field.
