BASEBALL: Cavs squeak past Tigers

By Jay Jenkins

Published: April 1, 2008

Despite the massive scoreboard sitting behind the right-field wall offering reminders, Patrick Wingfield said he was oblivious to his batting average.
In fact, after a pair of early outs in at-bats against Towson, Virginia’s jack-of-all-trades stood at a clip around .200, which would have even made Mario Mendoza proud.
When it mattered most, however, Wingfield hit - and hit again.
Thanks to stellar middle-relief pitching from sophomore Neal Davis and Wingfield’s first RBI and later his third run scored of the season, Virginia used a rally to upend Towson, 9-8, just six days after an ugly non-conference loss to George Washington.
“I think our players learned something from that [GW] game,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “After that game, our players knew that they needed to pick each other up.”
Virginia (24-5) needed its dual efforts to take starting pitcher Robert Poutier off the hook for a potential loss.
Poutier, a senior, retired only five Towson batters, giving up five hits, including a three-run homer to Matt Collins that capped a six-run second inning and gave the Tigers a 6-4 lead.
Davis - who allowed only two hits in 5.1 innings of work behind Poutier - silenced Towson, which allowed the Cavaliers time to bounce back offensively.
“There hasn’t been anybody as valuable to our team so far this season as Neal,” O’Connor said, referring to the southpaw with a 0.90 ERA. “He has done what has been asked of him.”
UVa trimmed the deficit with a lone run in the fourth and took back the advantage in the fifth after David Coleman hit into a run-scoring fielder’s choice and later scored on Wingfield’s single.
The Cavaliers also scored in the sixth on an RBI single from left fielder Dan Grovatt, who finished with three hits. The lead, however, slipped away quickly.
In the eighth, Towson scored a pair to tie the game 8-8 after sophomore Matt Packer allowed both runners that he inherited from fellow reliever Jake Cowan to score on a two-out two-run single.
Wingfield ensured the tie lasted only momentarily - the senior drilled a fastball away to the base of the left-center field wall to open the bottom of the eighth.
While rookie center fielder Jarrett Parker tried to drop down a sacrifice bunt, Wingfield caught the Tigers off guard, stealing third base. It was the Cavaliers’ eighth stolen base in the contest.
“Eight stolen bases in a game is pretty rare,” O’Connor said. “If you can run and steal bases, you have a chance to put yourself in scoring position in numerous situations.”
After Parker walked to put runners on the corners, Virginia shortstop Greg Miclat pushed a safety-squeeze bunt down that barely stayed in the grass down the first-base line that allowed Wingfield to score without a throw.
Michael Schwimer earned his ninth save of the year, pitching a perfect ninth to secure the one-run victory in the opener of a two-game set with the Tigers (11-15). The two squads meet tonight at 5.
Extra bases …
The fans at Davenport Field were silenced in the first inning. Virginia first baseman Jeremy Farrell was plunked in the top of the batting helmet by a pitch from Towson starter Austin Hurd. After staying in the game long enough to run the bases and score, O’Connor pulled the junior from the game. “I think he is fine,” the coach said. “I think he just got his bell rung.” Farrell is expected to start tonight. …Virginia infielder Phil Gosselin had surgery Monday on a broken hamate bone (wrist) and will be out 4-to-6 weeks, O’Connor confirmed. The rookie infielder is batting .284 with two homers and 12 RBI in 25 games.