Following its first loss of the season and a split in a two game series with Penn State over the weekend, the Virginia baseball team will look to rebound at 3 p.m. today when James Madison comes to Davenport Field for a one game contest.
The Cavaliers are 5-1 on the season and started the campaign with a five game win streak. However, that season-opening hot streak was snapped by the Nittany Lions Sunday in an 8-3 decision. Penn State scored all eight of its runs in the first three innings, while the Cavaliers could only manage one hit in the opening third of the game.
Sunday's starting pitcher, Chris Gale, got off to rough start in his second start of the season. The senior pitcher lasted only 1.1 innings while giving up six runs on seven hits and saw his record fall to 1-1.
Virginia will turn to senior Joe Koshansky to improve the starting pitching this afternoon. Koshansky will make his second start of the season as a pitcher. In Koshansky's other start of the season, he pitched six innings and recorded five strikeouts while surrendering an unearned run in the Feb. 15 match against North Carolina A&T.
"The reality of college baseball is, you're only as good as your starting pitching," head coach Brian O'Conner said.
Virginia will also look for its offense to reawaken after Sunday's loss. The Cavaliers recorded season lows in both hits (seven) and runs (three) Sunday. Virginia hit .219 as a team on the day and did not generate the offensive production that has become the norm this season. Right fielder Matt Street, shortstop Mark Reynolds and left fielder Matt Dunn were the only Cavalier players to record an RBI in Sunday's contest, and no player was able to get more than one hit in the game. The Cavaliers also did not take advantage of offensive opportunities, leaving nine men on base.
"As a hitter, you've got to get in there, battle, dig in and do whatever you have to do to put the ball in play, and we did not do that [Sunday]," O'Conner said.
Koshansky, who leads the team in home runs with three and in RBIs with nine, also struggled Sunday going 0-4 on the day. All four of Koshansky's at bats ended with strike outs.
"Whenever you get a game like Sunday's you just want to get back out and play again," Koshansky said.
James Madison also enters today's contest with a record of 5-1. The Dukes swept a three game series with Longwood to open the season and went 2-1 during a three-game home stand against Bucknell. James Madison returns eight starters from last year's team that went 44-16 including first baseman Eddie Kim, a third team All-American last year.
"JMU has always had a very good program, and I expect them to be very similar to the Penn State team," O'Conner said. "Anytime you get that in-state situation, those kids are going to be ready. We have got to be ready for a dogfight on Tuesday."
This afternoon's game will feature two teams that make few fielding errors. The Cavaliers are fielding .968 as a team and have yielded only eight errors, while the Dukes have only allowed six errors on the year and have a fielding percentage of .972.
Read More
Katie Grimes posts historic debut as women’s swimming and diving annihilates Virginia Tech
By Xander Tilock | 1 hours agoGrimes broke out as a new superstar for Coach Todd DeSorbo's squad.
Women’s basketball displays stingy defense, but falls short versus No. 14 Duke
By Xander Tilock | 7 hours agoThe Cavaliers nearly conquered a ranked rival but could not generate consistent offense.
You cannot say money is the problem for Virginia football
By Peter Kriebel | 14 hours agoMoney, after all, is just one aspect of a winning program.
