Edited by Chris Graham
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The second-ranked Virginia baseball team scored five runs in the third inning and cruised from there in an 11-3 victory over Richmond Tuesday evening at Davenport Field.
Virginia batters capitalized on 16 Richmond walks in the game. UVa finished with seven hits, highlighted by Phil Gosselin (Jr., West Chester, Pa.), who hit a solo home run. Chris Taylor (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) went 1-for-2, walked three times and scored four runs for Virginia (30-9), while Jarrett Parker (Jr., Stafford, Va.) walked four times. Steven Proscia (So., Suffern, N.Y.) drove in three runs for UVa.
In his first career start, Shane Halley (So., Burke, Va.) worked a career-high four innings to earn the win and improve to 2-0. He allowed just three hits and two walks while striking out four. Will Roberts (Jr., Richmond, Va.) pitched the final three innings to record his first career save. Richmond starter Shawn O’Neill (1-2) was saddled with the loss after tossing 2.1 innings and giving up four earned runs, two hits and three walks while striking out a pair.
Virginia scored a run in the first inning. With one out Chris Taylor (Fr., Virginia Beach, Va.) singled to left. He moved to second on an O’Neill balk, then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on another balk.
UVa blew the game open with five runs in the third inning, despite registering only one hit. With one out O’Neill walked the bases loaded. Alex Maffett entered in relief and surrendered a two-run single to right field from Proscia. Parker walked to load the bases before John Hicks (So., Sandy Hook, Va.) hit a fly ball which left fielder Billy Barber dropped, allowing each runner to move up a base, including Dan Grovatt (Jr., Tabernacle, N.J.), who scored on the play. John Barr then grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Proscia, and Parker scored on a passed ball for the fifth run of the inning.
Gosselin put another run on the board when he led off the fourth inning with a home run into the left-field bleachers. The rocket was his fourth home run of the season.
The Cavaliers pushed the lead to 10-0 in the sixth inning without posting a hit. Taylor led off with a walk, then moved up on a wild pitch and advanced to third when catcher Chris Cowell’s throw to second sailed into center field. Taylor then scored on a Proscia sacrifice fly. UVa added runs when Kenny Swab (Jr., Kernersville, N.C.) and Stephen Bruno (Fr., Audubon, N.J.) drew back-to-back walks with the bases loaded.
In the seventh UVa scored its final run when Tyler Biddix (Jr., Richmond, Va.) hit a sacrifice fly to score Taylor.
Richmond (17-18) broke the shutout in the ninth inning on a Cowell RBI single. Adam McConnell hit a two-out, two-run single to cap the evening.
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Chris Graham
