Virginia advanced to the next weekend’s NCAA Super Regionals with an 11-3 win over Elon on Sunday (June 2) in the 2013 NCAA Charlottesville Regional championship game before a crowd of 3,792 at Davenport Field.
Virginia improves to 50-10 and will the host the NCAA Super Regionals in a best-of-3 series beginning Friday (June 7) orSaturday (June 8). The Cavaliers’ opponent and dates and times of the NCAA Super Regional will be announced Monday(June 3) at approximately 11 p.m. Elon made its sixth NCAA Baseball Championship appearance and finished the season with a 34-30 record.
Trailing 3-0, the Cavaliers broke the game open with a six-run third inning. Nate Irving (So., Yonkers, N.Y.) ignited the rally with a leadoff double and scored on Jared King’s (R-Sr., Radford, Va.) double down the left field line. Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) and Brandon Downes (So., South Plainfield, N.J.) drew back-to-back walks to load the bases and Derek Fisher (So., Rexmont, Pa.) delivered a two-run single to right ending the day for Elon starter Nate Young. Reed Gragnani’s (Sr., Richmond, Va.) groundout moved Downes and Fisher into scoring position. Nick Howard (So., Olney, Md.) delivered a two-run single and Kenny Towns (So., Burke, Va.) drilled an RBI double to left.
Howard led Virginia’s 14-hit attack by going 4-for-5 with two runs and two RBI and Fisher drove in three runs with a pair of hits. Towns had three RBI while King and Downes added two hits apiece.
David Rosenberger (Fr., Bethlehem, Pa.) earned his third win in relief of starter Whit Mayberry (R-Jr., Alexandria, Va.), who was pulled after allowing three runs on five hits in three innings. Rosenberger took the mound in the fourth and allowed two hits with a career-best four strikeouts in five scoreless innings. Austin Young (Jr., Mechanicsville, Va.) and Josh Sborz (Fr., McLean, Va.) pitched the ninth for Virginia.
Ryan Kinsella led Elon’s offensive attack with a two-run home run, his only hit of the regional, and Casey Jones added an RBI double. Losing pitcher Young (2-2) allowed five runs on four hits and three walks in 2.1 innings. Reliever Ryan Pennell allowed four runs on six hits in 1.2 innings. Jacob Baker, Jordan Darnell, Brandon Kacer, John Antonelli and Tyler Manez also pitched for the Phoenix.
Quinn Bower led off the game with a double and Elon jumped to a 2-0 lead when Kinsella cranked his 21st home run, a two-run opposite field shot to left.
In the top of the third, Elon increased its lead to 3-0 as Alex Swim singled and scored on Jones’ two-out double.
After UVa’s six-run third inning, the Cavaliers went up 8-3 as Downes plated McCarthy with an RBI double and Fisher followed with an RBI single up the middle. Irving added a sacrifice fly in the fifth and Towns’ RBI groundout made it 10-3 after seven innings. Towns tacked on another RBI in the eighth after he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the eighth.
Virginia pitcher Kyle Crockett (Jr., Poquoson, Va.) was named Most Outstanding Player of the Charlottesville Regional. Crockett saved two of Virginia’s three wins in the regional. UVa’s Irving (C), Howard (SS), Towns (3B), McCarthy (OF) and pitcher Scott Silverstein (R-Sr., Olney, Md.) and Elon’s Kinsella (1B), Chris Bresnahan (2B) and Jones (OF) and UNCW’s Corey Dick (DH) and Tyler Molinaro (OF) joined Crockett on the all-regional team.
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