Despite a respectable debut of his own, Virginia freshman pitcher Cannon Hickman should be taking notes from William & Mary pitcher Whitt Farr. The Tribe (9-3) rode the arm of their sophomore pitcher to a 10-5 victory over the Cavaliers (5-2) yesterday at U.Va. baseball field.
"We knew coming in that this was going to be a very difficult game," Virginia coach Dennis Womack said. "They're pitching their best pitcher on two days rest. That will give you a little clue to how important the game was to them."
Farr (4-2) responded by turning in the best pitching performance Virginia has seen in an opponent this season. The right-hander allowed five runs on seven hits in eight and two-thirds innings of work. He also had a game-high five strikeouts.
"Their guy throws the ball well," Womack said. "Whitt Farr is a legitimate guy. He has a legitimate arm. He has a good arm. We knew runs would be hard to come by."
Virginia took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third thanks to a Doug Vroman RBI triple and a David Stone sacrifice fly off of Farr.
After giving up an unearned run in the top of the fourth, Virginia lost the lead for good in the top of the fifth.
Hickman had allowed only one hit through four innings before walking two William & Mary batters in the fifth. Hickman then watched Tribe shortstop Brendan Harris smash a towering three-run homer to left-centerfield, giving William & Mary a 4-2 lead.
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"Our starter, Canon Hickman, primarily matched him pitch for pitch," Womack said. "He made one bad pitch, and that's what happens to you when you walk a couple guys in front of you and then make a bad pitch. They went from being down to all of a sudden being up. I think they needed a big hit to kind of get them going."
Hickman (0-1) gave up six runs - five of them earned - and six hits in six and two-thirds innings.
While the Cavaliers were unable to get any base runners against Farr, the Tribe extended their lead in the late innings. Tribe designated hitter Matt McGuire added an RBI single in the seventh. Harris, who finished the day 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored, also had an RBI single in the seventh inning.
After adding another run in the eighth, the Tribe scored three more in the top of the ninth, keyed by a two-run single to centerfield by Mike O'Kelly.
With William & Mary leading 10-2 going into the bottom of the ninth, Virginia made its best effort at a comeback.
Cavalier first baseman Robert Word's triple drove in two runs to cut the deficit to 10-4. After a Chris Sweet RBI single shortened the margin to five, the Tribe brought in relief pitcher Ben Shepard, who got his first save of the season.
With the bases loaded and two outs, third baseman Joe Benick flew out to centerfield, ending the threat of a Virginia rally.
"They pitched their best guys, but that's okay," Womack said. "You got to play against whatever the other team has. Other than that, it's just a disappointing loss. You hate to lose to anybody in-state. We know that the in-state teams are going to play us really, really tough and William & Mary did. Just take your hats off to them."
Virginia will face two more in-state opponents this week at VCU today and at Liberty tomorrow.
"All of these are tough games," Womack said. "These are guys who can play. The VCU's of this world are good. They are going to have a solid club and aren't going to give us anything. Now we go on the road for a couple of days, so that will be interesting to see how we handle that"
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