Virginia outplayed Penn State for six innings yesterday -- but the Nittany Lion bats did more than enough in the first three to hand the Cavaliers their first loss of the season, 8-3.
After losing the first game of the two-game series to Virginia (5-1) on Saturday, 7-1, Penn State (1-1) came out on fire on both sides of the ball Sunday afternoon.
Their first runs of the game came in the first inning, when three straight singles to left field off Virginia starter Chris Gale loaded the bases with one out. A groundout RBI by first baseman Clint Eury made the score 1-0. Junior shortstop Mark Reynolds then let two runs come home with an error through his legs, and the Cavaliers found themselves in a three-run hole before they recorded a single at bat.
"When something like [an early error] happens, we've got to come right back and show more fight in us," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "We didn't do that, and I think that was the story of the game."
Three more Nittany Lion runs came in the next inning before Gale finally got the hook, leaving the game with a line of 1.1 innings pitched, seven hits and six runs in 14 batters faced.
Penn State designated hitter Brett Showalter, who batted only .087 in 2003, led off the third with a triple over right fielder Matt Street's head, the first of his career. It would be the last inning in which the Nittany Lions would score, but the two runs plated off of Scott Morganthaler in the third made the score 8-0, and Virginia was still hitless.
Signs of life started to appear from the Virginia dugout when second baseman Kyle Werman led off the bottom of the frame with the team's first hit. Werman made his way to third after a Matt Harter passed ball and a Street sacrifice bunt, setting up third baseman Ryan Zimmerman with an opportunity to get the ball rolling.
Zimmerman knocked the seams off a Clayton Hamilton fastball, but before the fans in the bleachers had time to let out a cheer, it had been batted down by Hamilton's glove, and Zimmerman was thrown out to end the inning.
"Not many breaks went our way today," Zimmerman said. "The reality is we're not going to win all 56 games. It's going to be more about what we do next game than what happened this game."
For Zimmerman, it was a day of inches, as his double in the sixth inning landed halfway onto the warning track -- tantalizingly close to his first collegiate home run.
"I'm trying to get that monkey off my back," Zimmerman said. "I don't know how many times I've been close, but I'll take a double any day."
Virginia did battle back, scoring one run apiece in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. Street, left fielder Matt Dunn and Reynolds all chipped in with RBIs, and in the bottom of the seventh, Virginia looked poised to get back in the game.
After Street got things started with a one-out single to right, Reynolds drove him in with a double to right-center field, closing the gap to 8-3. A wild pitch moved Reynolds to third, and when Zimmerman drew a five-pitch walk, team home run leader Joe Koshansky had a chance to redeem himself for his three strikeouts earlier in the game.
Penn State brought in southpaw Craig Clark to face the left-handed Koshansky, who went down swinging for the fourth time -- and Virginia's biggest threat had been retired. Dunn, who knocked in Zimmerman the inning before with an opposite field double, came up with two outs, but he failed to capitalize. The Cavaliers' best chance of the day was squandered, and they would not score again.
After starting 2003 16-0 at Davenport Field, Virginia went two games before killing any talk of an even-better start this year.
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