Virginia tops Elon, 2-0, advances to regional final

Virginia’s Scott Silverstein (R-Sr., Olney, Md.) outdueled Elon’s Spencer Medick as the Cavaliers defeated the Phoenix, 2-0, on Saturday (June 1) in game four of the 2013 NCAA Charlottesville Regional before a crowd of 4,434 at Davenport Field.

Elon (33-29) plays UNC Wilmington (38-22) in an elimination game on Sunday (June 2) at 1 p.m. Virginia (49-10) improves to 2-0 in the double elimination regional and hosts the winner of Sunday’s Elon-UNCW contest tomorrow night at 6 p.m. A seventh game, if necessary, to determine the Charlottesville Regional champion is scheduled for Monday (June 3) at 6 p.m.

Silverstein allowed six hits and two walks during six shutout innings to earn his 10th win of the season. Silverstein struck out six and exited after retiring Chris Bresnahan with runners on first and second to end the sixth.

Josh Sborz (Fr., McLean, Va.) pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning and Kyle Crockett (Jr., Poquoson, Va.) allowed two hits and stuck out three in a six-out save.

Virginia’s two-run fourth inning was highlighted by Kenny Towns’ (So., Burke, Va.) RBI double and Nate Irving’s (So., Yonkers, N.Y.) run-scoring single to center.

Nick Howard (So., Olney, Md.), Brandon Downes (So., South Plainfield, N.J.) and Mike Papi (So., Tunkhannock, Pa.) collected two hits each for Virginia. Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) went 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.

Medick (7-7) went the distance for Elon, allowing two runs on nine hits with three walks and four strikeouts.

Alex Swim collected three hits for the Phoenix, who left 10 runners on base in the contest.

Both Medick and Silverstein escaped bases-loaded jams in the third inning. Medick ended UVa’s threat by striking out Derek Fisher (So., Rexmont, Pa.) and Silverstein held Elon off the scoreboard by retiring Sebastian Gomez on a groundout.

Virginia scored the only runs of the game in the top of the fourth inning as Howard singled, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch by Medick. Towns ripped an RBI double down the left field line and Irving followed with a run-scoring single to center.

In the top of the fifth, McCarthy and Downes lined back-to-back singles, but Fisher and Reed Gragnani (Sr., Richmond, Va.) each lined out to end the inning.

Elon had runners on second and third in the bottom of the fifth, but Silverstein struck out the dangerous Ryan Kinsella and Gomez lined out to second to end the inning.