Senior Matt Street's three-run homerun in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a previously close game wide open, and the Cavaliers went on to defeat William & Mary 9-4 at Davenport Field last night.
"Coach Mac [Kevin McMullan] just told me, pretend like the infield's in, get a sac fly," Street said. "I was just trying to get the ball in the air."
He certainly accomplished his goal, powering the ball over the 377-foot mark in left-center field.
Coach Brian O'Connor was happy with the team's performance in a potential landmine game following last weekend's sweep against Georgia Tech.
"It could've been very dangerous," O'Connor said. "With all the excitement, with everything that went into the three wins at Georgia Tech this weekend, this is the kind of game you could have a letdown.But I was real proud of our guys. Pat McAnaney gave us a quality start, and we swung the bats really well throughout the lineup tonight."
Virginia got out to a quick 2-0 lead with a two-run double from Sean Doolittle in the first inning.William & Mary quickly answered with a two-run second inning to tie the game at two, serving notice that this would not be one of Virginia's usual midweek romps.
"William & Mary, they're a real good ball club," Street said."They've got a good team every year."
An RBI single from Street in the bottom of the second gave Virginia a 3-2 lead that lasted until the Tribe once again tied the game in the sixth inning.
The Cavaliers bats came alive once more in the bottom of the sixth. After William & Mary pitcher Forrest Cory gave up a leadoff walk to senior Kyle Werman, sophomore Tim Henry singled to put runners on the corners for Matt Street. After Street's home run, senior Ryan Zimmerman drew a walk from Tribe reliever Jake Rule. Freshman Brandon Guyer promptly drove Zimmerman in with an RBI single to cap off a four-run inning for the Cavaliers.
"They tied the ball game up there [in the sixth]," sophomore Casey Lambert said. "But we came right back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. It shows how much character we have."
William & Mary closed the gap to three runs with a Greg Sexton homerun in the top of the seventh inning.The Tribe did not score again, however, as senior Scott Morgenthaler and sophomore Casey Lambert combined to shut down the potent Tribe offense the rest of the way.
A pair of RBI doubles in the eighth inning from Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Darby pushed the lead to five runs and provided the final score.
By protecting the Cavaliers three-run lead in the eighth inning, Lambert recorded the 19th save of his Virginia career. The save gives Lambert sole possession of the Virginia record for career saves.
Lambert is glad to have the chase for the records finally behind him.
"It hasn't really hit me," Lambert said. "This past four days, all these records have come, so it's nice that they all came pretty close to one another, and I could get them out of the way.Now I can just focus on pitching and helping my team win."
The win over William & Mary caps off an undefeated five-game home stand for the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers return to actionApril 29 when they travel to Tallahassee to take on No. 24 Florida State in a three-game series this weekend.
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