For anyone who has ever wondered about the slaughter rule in college baseball, last night's game against in-state rival Virginia Tech was a good opportunity to find out about it: There isn't one.
Virginia (34-7, 14-4 ACC), who recently rose to No. 15 in the nation, poured on 21 runs in just three innings against the Hokies (19-16) in a 21-10 smashing. The game featured 34 total hits, with 11 different pitchers taking the mound in Virginia's 14th consecutive win.
Senior first baseman Joe Koshansky hit a home run for the second night in a row in a 4-RBI performance. The deep fly over the 377-foot sign in left-center field gave Koshansky 13 bombs on the year, four more than the next man in line, shortstop Mark Reynolds.
Virginia did all the damage with a pair of nine-run innings in the third and fifth, sandwiching the three-run fourth which included Koshansky's home run. The Cavaliers batted around in all three innings, a sight that many in the sell-out crowd had never seen. Twice, thirteen batters came up in an inning. Twenty-seven of the 34 Cavaliers to step into the batter's box in the 21-run trifecta reached base -- a .794 on-base percentage.
Sophomores Ryan Zimmerman and Matt Dunn continued their competition for the team batting title. Heading into the game with the Hokies, Dunn held a seven point advantage over the third baseman with a .340 batting average. Zimmerman had a team-high four hits on Wednesday, slapping a pair of doubles along with two singles up the middle. Dunn went 2-5 on the night with an RBI and two runs scored.
Out of the 19 Cavalier hits, none loomed larger than senior Matt Street's first bomb of the year -- a grand slam to left that put Virginia up 20-4. In Street's previous at-bat, he just missed becoming only the fourth Virginia player to erase the goose egg under their home run tally this season, hitting the middle of the wall in nearly the exact same spot as his bases-clearing knock in the fifth.
Street has been playing with a broken right wrist through the entire 14-game win streak, and welcomes a week-long break looming on the horizon for finals.
"We're pretty banged up, we've got a lot of injuries right now," Street said. "Those seven days ought to be pretty nice."
Senior starting pitcher Chris Gale chose the right time to struggle on the hill. He went five innings, allowing nine hits and three earned runs with a walk and a strikeout. But with nearly enough run support for an entire season, Gale got the win to go to 4-2 on the year.
The Cavaliers are peaking at just the right time -- they pack their bags for Coral Gables, Fl. this weekend to take on No. 4 Miami in a three-game series. Virginia's win streak has persevered despite several close calls and comeback victories, but no team has posed the challenge that awaits them in Miami -- the alma mater of Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez.
The Virginia bats had been subdued for much of the 14-game streak, being held to five runs or less in every contest since knocking in 11 against William & Mary April 6. Wednesday night was a coming-out party for the offense.
"I was happy to see our offense get out of the little funk we were in for a few games," Koshansky said. "Especially with Miami coming up."
Everything has gone right for the Cavaliers this month. The starting rotation is keeping their team in the game, players are coming up with clutch hits time and time again, and fan support is at its highest level in recent memory. The ball has just been bouncing Virginia's way. Whether they can keep that trend alive in the series with Miami will help determine if Virginia is for real.
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