After playing 17 innings on Sunday in a loss to the College of Charleston, the Virginia Cavaliers (8-3) appeared to be no worse for the wear, cruising easily to an 11-5 victory over the visiting George Washington Colonials (1-4) last night at Davenport Field.
The scoring began in the second inning, when freshman third baseman Jeremy Farrell, who missed Sunday's game due to intense back pain, smoked an outside fastball into the right field corner for an RBI triple.
"I talked to [Farrell] right before that at-bat," coach Brian O'Connor said. "It was pretty clear that his back was killing him."
Despite the pain, Farrell scored one batter later when junior catcher Beau Seabury hit into a fielder's choice to give the Cavaliers an early 2-0 edge. Virginia then capitalized on a pair of Colonial errors in the bottom of the third and added four runs on four straight singles and another Farrell frozen rope, this time a double to the gap in right-center.
Behind another stellar pitching performance by sophomore standout Sean Doolittle, the six runs were all the Cavaliers would need.
Doolittle, who was relieved in the sixth inning by sophomore Robert Poutier, gave up just three hits and one walk while striking out six of the 22 batters he faced. It was only in the eighth inning, when Poutier began to struggle, that George Washington finally spoiled the home shutout.
"Sean came out and threw the ball extremely well tonight," Farrell said. "It was just another great performance by him."
The Colonials' pitching staff, on the other hand, was far less impressive. Starter Josh Wilkie upped his runs allowed total to nine in the fifth inning before being relieved by senior Justin Prinstein. Prinstein fared only slightly better, giving up the final two runs in the seventh on a series of walks and a timely single from junior infielder John Scaglione.
Freshman second baseman David Adams, Virginia's leader in home runs and RBI, earned his first start in the clean-up spot and took advantage of the opportunity with two singles in five at bats. Junior outfielder Brian Marsh also played well, going two for four and making a phenomenal running grab at the warning track in right-center field.
Despite the quick start, the Cavaliers wavered noticeably down the stretch, allowing George Washington to cross the plate five times in the final two innings, without any runs of their own.
George Washington "has a very good program," O'Connor said. "But in the last three innings, we were completely disrespectful to the game of baseball from an at-bat standpoint -- from the way we played defense and from the way that we pitched -- and that just can't happen."
Virginia will look to build off last night's victory this weekend when they host St. Joseph's for a three-game series.
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