North Carolina
Virginia
UNC Baseball Beats Virginia 5-4
April 22, 2000 | Baseball
April 22, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The University of Virginia baseball team returned to home action and hosted the #12 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels in the second game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference weekend series. The Cavaliers, coming off a 6-5 victory over the Tar Heels on Friday, were looking for a repeat performance in hopes of shooting for a weekend sweep over their conference rivals. However, North Carolina bounced back and earned a hard fought 5-4 win over Virginia this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field.
The Tar Heels wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as Adam Greenberg (1-4, two runs, RBI) hit a lead-off homerun to right field off the Cavaliers' Will Parker (LHP) to give UNC an early 1-0 lead to start the game. But North Carolina's lead did not last long, as Virginia responded with a three-run first inning to take a 3-1 lead after one inning of play.
Robbie Marvin (1-3, run) started the Cavaliers off with a lead-off single to right field in UVa's first at-bat. After Michael Floyd (1-3, two runs) walked, Jon Benick (1-4, RBI) hit a RBI-single to left field on a hit-and-run play that scored Marvin to tie the game at 1-1. Virginia's next batter, Luis Giraldo (2-4, two RBI, run), hit a RBI-single to center field to score Floyd, putting the Cavaliers ahead 2-1. Two batters later, Mark Rueffert (1-4, RBI) hit a RBI-single to center field to drive in Giraldo, giving UVa a 3-1 lead after one inning.
North Carolina came right back in the top of the second inning and scored a run to pull within one run of Virginia at 3-2. The run resulted after UNC's Ryan Mathews was hit by a pitch to reach first base. Mathews then moved to second base when teammate Sean Farrell (1-3) walked before scoring the Tar Heels second run of the game in the next sequence of events. Mathews and Farrell were involved in a double steal play that resulted in Farrell being caught in a run-down between first and second base. In the attempt to tag out Farrell, Mathews advanced to third base and rounded the corner while watching the out attempt on Farrell. Farrell was eventually tagged out on the play, but UVa first baseman David Stone dropped the ball and Mathews scored on the fielding error to make it a 3-2 game.
Virginia pulled ahead by the score of 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning after Floyd singled, advanced to second base on a balk by UNC pitcher Chris Elmore, and later scored when Giraldo hit a RBI-single to center field. However, UVa's fourth run would be its last of the game, and the Tar Heels started to mount a comeback.
The score would remain 4-2 in favor of Virginia until the top of the fifth inning. Greenberg started the inning off with a walk before advancing all the way to third base on a throwing error on a pick-off attempt at first base by UVa's Parker. Parker's throw ended up rolling down the right field line in foul territory, allowing Greenberg to move to third base. UNC's next batter, Dan Moylan, gathered a RBI after hitting into a fielder's choice that scored Greenberg, cutting the Cavaliers lead to 4-3.
The game remained 4-3 in favor of Virginia until the top of the seventh inning. In North Carolina's first at-bat of the inning, Chad Prosser (1-3, RBI, run) hit a solo homerun to left field off Virginia's Chris Marinak (RHP) to tie the game at 4-4. Three batters later, Clay Hooper (2-3, run) hit a single to left field and then scored the eventual game-winning run when the Tar Heels' next batter, Tyrell Godwin (2-3, RBI), hit a RBI-triple to center field to score Hooper which gave North Carolina a 5-4 advantage. Godwin tried to turn his second triple of the day into an inside the park homerun, but was tagged out the plate by UVa catcher Jon Benick. However, Godwin's hit became the game-winner as the Tar Heels held on for a 5-4 win.
UNC's Derrick DePriest entered the game in the eighth inning to relieve Elmore and limited the Cavalier offense to zero runs on one hit to help shut down Virginia's comeback. Elmore earned the win and improved to 6-1 on the season after throwing seven innings and allowing four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. DePriest earned his ninth save of the season.
UVa's Marinak was dealt his second loss of the season as his pitching record fell to 0-2. Marinak allowed two runs on four hits after striking out one batter in relief of Parker. Parker lasted 4.1 innings after giving up three runs (one earned) on four hits to go along with two strikeouts.
The Cavaliers' Tim LaVigne was held to 1-4 at the plate, but had an outstanding game in the field as the senior shortstop made several remarkable plays for the Orange and Blue in defeat.
With the loss, Virginia's record falls to 18-24-1 overall, 6-11 in the ACC. The win improves North Carolina's record to 36-10 overall, 8-9 in the conference.
The victory was UNC's first road win in the ACC this season. This was also the fifth consecutive game between the Cavaliers and Tar Heels that was decided by one run.
Virginia and North Carolina will return to action on Sunday, April 23rd when the two teams face one another in the final game of the three-game weekend series. The game is scheduled to begin at 1:00 p.m. and will be played at the UVa Baseball Field.
