The Virginia pitching staff had no answers for George Washington yesterday, as the Colonials went on an offensive rampage and defeated Virginia 17-5.
The loss was Virginia's first at home in 2008 and the 17 runs given up were the most the Virginia pitching staff has allowed since 2004, when the Cavaliers (20-5, 5-4 ACC) lost 22-3 at Miami.
"We got ours tonight," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "Everybody gets it at some point in the season. Ours happened to be the 25th game of the year when we got out beating."
Freshman Tyler Wilson, sophomore Jeff Lorick, freshman Robert Morey and senior Jake Rule combined to give up the 17 runs on 18 hits and didn't strike out a single GW hitter all day.
The Virginia hitters got on the board early, scoring five runs before GW (12-9, 2-1 Atlantic 10) could record an out. Colonial sophomore starter Ryan LaPointe was taken out having not retired a single batter. But the Cavaliers made the next 27 outs without scoring another run, and the Colonial bullpen allowed only three hits for the rest of the game.
"When the energy is down after we score five runs in the first inning and no outs, you can feel it in the dugout," Morey said.
Rule, one of the go-to guys in the Virginia bullpen, continued to struggle. He pitched 1.2 innings, allowing five earned runs on five hits. His ERA jumped to 9.58. O'Connor brought Rule in with the bases loaded late in the eighth. After getting ahead 0-2, Rule plunked senior Andrew Abokhair in the back to allow the 10th run of the day to score.
"He's been that way so many times when he's got two strikes on a batter and hasn't put the hitter away," O'Connor said. "I told Jake after the inning, 'It's a long season.' I wanted to see him go back on the mound for the ninth inning and attack them."
The loss was Virginia's first outside the ACC this season.
"This kind of game, I think you're seeing this all over the country," O'Connor said. "This is the change in the schedule, that when you play two games in the middle of the week, you're going to get this. Not 17 runs, but you're not going to win them all."
When asked how quickly he could get over this game, Morey said, "Overnight."
The Cavaliers return to the field Friday to host Virginia Tech (8-15, 0-9 ACC). Junior Jacob Thompson will get the start on the mound for the Cavaliers.
"We've got a big game here Friday night," O'Connor said. "You can't have that carry-over factor"
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