Jeff Kamrath pitched eight scoreless innings and Brandon Guyer added three hits as the Virginia baseball team continued its dominance at Davenport Field by completing a three-game weekend sweep of the visiting Maryland Terrapins, winning yesterday 5-2.
The win marked the Cavaliers' ninth straight and pushed the team's home record to 15-1. Despite struggling to win two of its first seven road games this season, Virginia possesses a significant home-field advantage. Guyer attributed this season's home success to the fact that the team's style of play works very well with the size of Davenport Field.
"The big ballpark and the way we play definitely works to our advantage so much," Guyer said. "We play teams that play at smaller stadiums and they come in here and try to hit bombs. They're just long fly balls here. We do the little things and that's how we have an advantage."
The little things played a big role yesterday as Virginia used timely hitting, errorless fielding and solid pitching to win its third ACC game of the season.
A confident Kamrath frustrated Maryland batters all day as he extended his scoreless inning streak to 17. For the second consecutive outing, he pitched a shutout through the eighth. The Terrapins struggled with his deceptive fastball as he changed speeds effectively and forced many harmless fly balls in the infield. Virginia coach Brian O'Connor glowed when he discussed his team's senior starter following the game.
"The entire day he was in complete control of the game," O'Connor said. "That's what leaders do. That's what great pitchers do."
The senior pitcher has found his stride in his first year back after missing all of last season because of elbow surgery.
A more modest Kamrath praised his team's defense, as the Cavaliers completed the weekend series without committing an error.
"When you have a defense like that behind you, you know you don't have to strike everyone out," Kamrath said.
Kamrath did manage six strikeouts, staying around the strike zone all day and only walking one while letting his defense do the rest.
The Cavaliers added timely hitting to complement their solid defense and confident pitching. Virginia led off four different innings with extra-base hits and later scored in three of those innings. Two freshmen provided the brunt of the offense as Guyer had three hits and drove in a run, and Patrick Wingfield continued to take advantage of limited plate appearances this season. Wingfield's two hits yesterday pushed his season total to eight hits in 15 at bats.
The only drawback for the Cavaliers yesterday was that closer Casey Lambert allowed his first runs of the season when the Terrapins touched him up for two in the ninth. Lambert had previously pitched over 14 innings without allowing a run.
The Cavaliers face Richmond Wednesday before taking to the road for seven of their next eight games.
Read More
No. 6 women’s squash falls to No. 5 Stanford in first match of the new year
By Peter Kratz | YesterdayThe Cavaliers fall to 0-1 in conference play after their first clash with the Cardinal.
Katie Grimes posts historic debut as women’s swimming and diving annihilates Virginia Tech
By Xander Tilock | 2 days 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 | 2 days agoThe Cavaliers nearly conquered a ranked rival but could not generate consistent offense.
