The University of Virginia's baseball team found itself one out away from dropping its second straight game to visiting Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon, but sophomore David Adams simply would not let that happen. Down 6-4 with two outs and runners on first and second, Adams belted his third home run of the season to give the Cavaliers the dramatic walk-off 7-6 victory.
"I was just hoping it would carry," said Adams. "I hit it pretty well, and I was just hoping it would go out, and it did."
Juniors Sean Doolittle and Brandon Guyer sparked the rally for Virginia (31-8, 11-6 ACC) when Doolittle worked a two-out walk and Guyer was hit by a pitch from Georgia Tech junior closer Danny Payne. Adams then did the rest to earn a series split with the Yellow Jackets (21-14, 10-7 ACC).
"It's great to see him rise up in a clutch situation like that and win the game for his team," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "It was a huge win for us, there's no doubt. I think it was the biggest win for us of the year, not necessarily because of who the opponent was but how we won the game."
Junior Pat McAnaney pitched three scoreless innings in relief to earn the win and improve to 2-0 on the year. Senior Brandon Marsh had two hits, including a home run, and Guyer singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 24 games in the winning effort.
The victory was a complete turn-around from what the Cavaliers experienced Friday night, dropping the first game of the series 2-1 in an eleven- inning thriller.
Sophomore Jacob Thompson had a stellar outing, pitching seven and two-thirds innings while allowing five hits and an unearned run. His performance was matched, however, by Georgia Tech sophomore starter David Duncan, who allowed one run in seven innings. Senior Jared Hyatt followed Duncan, pitching four scoreless innings in relief to earn the win for the Yellow Jackets.
"It was a great pitched, well-defended ball game. It's sad that somebody's got to lose it," O'Connor said. "Jacob Thompson deserved to win and so did their guy. It's unfortunate that you're playing at home, you've got your crowd, that we can't get one more hit to lengthen out the lead or win the ball game. We had opportunities, that's for sure."
Virginia took a 1-0 lead into the eighth when Yellow Jacket sophomore Chris House struck out to lead off the inning but reached first on a passed ball. House then advanced to second on a ground out and scored on a two-out bloop single by junior Michael Fisher.
Georgia Tech struck again in the top of the 11th. The Yellow Jackets successfully executed a suicide squeeze by freshman Jeff Ussery with one out to score sophomore Chris House.
The rubber match in the series was rained out Sunday and will not be rescheduled, further magnifying the importance of Adams's home run. With the team struggling a bit, dropping two games last week to VMI and Duke along with the Friday night defeat, the win Saturday will go a long way in rebuilding the team's confidence as it prepares for the final stretch of the season.
"We're obviously very disappointed we couldn't play [Sunday]," O'Connor said. "As bad as the taste in our mouth after Friday night's game [was], to come back and get the win yesterday was good."
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