Virginia rolls to victory

By Jay Jenkins

Published: April 29, 2008

How it exactly happened is a miniature mystery to Phil Gosselin.
The fact that the Virginia infielder did not need the hamate bone in his wrist only added to his disbelief.
The timing, of course, only compounded the situation.
But just four weeks after surgery to remove the broken wedge-shaped bone in his wrist, Gosselin made a successful return to the diamond — and Mount St. Mary’s pitching staff paid the price.
Gosselin collected three hits and three RBI as Virginia awoke from an offensive slump with an 11-1 win at Davenport Field.
“I didn’t think there would be any chance of Phil coming back until the North Carolina series,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “It was great to see him get back in there and get him some at-bats going into the North Carolina series.”
The series with UNC, however, will not be played until May 9 as the Cavaliers take a 10-day break for exams.
Entering that layoff with a five-game losing streak was not something Gosselin or any other player on the roster had experienced in their college careers at UVa.
“That was huge,” said shortstop Greg Miclat. “It’s a huge win for our team. We were close against William and Mary and at Miami, but we didn’t play well enough. Going into this 10-day break being on top helps set the tone for our practices and, hopefully, our practices will remain upbeat, and it certainly helped to have Phil’s bat back in the lineup.”
Snapping that losing skid, which included two one-run losses at Miami, looked challenging after the game’s first few minutes.
Mount St. Mary’s (12-26) plated an early run off Virginia starter Robert Poutier in the first inning.
“I made a few bad pitches, including a change up over the middle of the plate,” Poutier said. “That cost me the run.”
Poutier settled down, pitching five innings for his second win of the season, and got ample support as Virginia scored at least a run in each of their first five frames against four Mountaineer hurlers. In fact, and thanks in part to a four-run fourth, the Cavaliers led 10-1 when Poutier was pulled. 
“When your offense comes back and scores runs, it is a big boost for the club,” Poutier said. “We scored runs in the first five innings which was huge for our offense, which was struggling down at Miami.”
After Poutier struck out five, Virginia’s relievers retired 10 of the 12 batters that they faced via the strike out. Seldom-used reliever Brad Grove even struck out the side in order in the seventh.
“They couldn’t figure out his change up,” O’Connor said. “He pitched pretty well tonight and that was great to see.”
Gosselin had help offensively — three Cavaliers joined the rookie with a multi-hit game. Jeremy Farrell may have been the best, tallying four hits and his ninth homer of the season.
For the game, Virginia had 16 hits and played errorless defensively.
Mount St. Mary’s starting pitcher Kent Worthington allowed three earned runs in two innings, taking the loss to fall to 1-2 on the season.