It was a classic pitcher's duel between Virginia's Joe Koshasnky and Maryland's Kevin Hart in game three of the squads' weekend series. Until the ninth, the Virginia offense could not figure out Hart, who tossed 8.1 innings of five-hit baseball. But the No. 23 Cavaliers (32-7, 14-4 ACC) found a way to pull out the victory, 2-1, for their 12th consecutive win and a sweep of the Terrapins (16-21, 2-13 ACC) in Bowie, Md.
Virginia entered the ninth down 1-0 from a Brian Jarosinski's long ball in the bottom of the first. Koshansky helped out his own cause by leading off the inning with a double off the wall to deep center. Sophomore Matt Dunn came to the plate showing bunt the whole way and looking to advance Koshansky to third. But Dunn's bloop bunt went toward third base and was fielded by Hart, who caught Koshansky heading for third. Next up was sophomore Tom Hagan, the former Cavalier punter, who was forced into the lineup after an injury to Josh Darby two weeks ago. Hagan knocked an RBI double inside the third base line and that was it for Hart, who had tossed over 130 pitches. Reliever Ben Pfinsgraff got the Terps into the extra session with two groundouts.
Maryland looked to be in business in the next half of the inning when its first and second batters both got on base to lead off the ninth, which brought Will Frazier to the plate with the score even at one. After stepping off the mound three times, Koshansky finally pitched two strikes and then nearly hit Frazier to leave the count at 1-2. On the next pitch, Frazier grounded back to the pitcher for the 1-6-3 double play. Designated hitter Jason Maxley had a chance to win it when he hit a ground ball up the middle under Koshansky's glove, but shortstop Matt Street fielded it on the run and got the out at first.
In the 11th, Hagan started the rally with a single to left center after a 10-pitch at bat. Junior Scott Headd did his job by advancing Hagan on a sacrifice bunt and Kyle Werman followed up with a groundout that moved Hagan to third. Freshman Tim Henry, who had been 0-4 until the 11th, came through in the clutch with an RBI single to plate Hagan and knock-in the game winner.
"You're going to get the best pitches to hit early in the count," Henry said. "Our coaches always told us to work early so I tried to, got a pitch to hit and luckily I hit it through a hole."
Both Hagan and Henry struggled early with two strikeouts apiece, but they made the plays when it mattered most.
"It doesn't always matter what you do with nobody on, it matters what you do in the clutch, when the game is on the line," coach Brian O'Connor said. "Those two kids both stepped up."
Virginia was the beneficiary of Maryland errors in the first two games which allowed them to take home 5-3 and 7-6 triumphs.
In game one, Virginia entered the ninth trailing 3-1 and had two outs with runners on second and third and senior Paul Gillispie at the plate. Gillispie connected on an RBI infield hit and the next batter, pinch hitter Miguel Luina, drilled a ball to centerfield that sent the Jarosinski to the warning track. The sophomore was in position to make the catch and end Virginia's winning streak at nine games, but he dropped the ball which allowed two runs to score and give Virginia a 4-3 lead that it held.
In the second contest, the Cavaliers surrendered a 6-0 advantage after allowing four runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to force the game into extra innings. Hagan was on second with two outs and Henry at the plate, when the freshman hit a ground ball to shortstop Dan Melvin. Melvin fielded the ball but overthrew the first baseman, allowing Hagan to score and the Cavaliers to pickup the 7-6 victory. Virginia's Canon Hickman (5-2) got the win after tossing 2.2 scoreless innings to close out the contest.
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