June 1, 2013

Virginia Scores Less, Goes 2-0 in Regional

By Phil Stanton

CBI Co-Founder @roadtoomaha

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The team that has scored the fewest runs is the only undefeated team in the Charlottesville Regional.

For the second straight day, top-seeded Virginia made two runs stand up in a 2-0 win over No. 3 Elon in Game 4 of the Charlottesville Regional in front of 4,434 fans at Davenport Field.

The Cavaliers (49-10) advance to Sunday’s championship game at 6 p.m. The Phoenix (33-29) will face No. 2 UNC Wilmington on Sunday at 1 p.m. in an elimination contest. The winner of that contest will have to defeat UVa on both Sunday and Monday to win the regional title.

Virginia has scored a total of four runs in two regional outings, while Army has six, Elon 10 and UNCW 16. It is the lowest run total in consecutive games for the Cavs this season. UVa averaged nearly 10 runs in the previous nine contests prior to regional play.

“There have been many times this year that we’ve scored eight, nine, 10 runs, 30 runs on a weekend,” said Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor. “These two ballgames, we found a way to win with great pitching and really good defense.”

Scott Silverstein (10-1) was outstanding in his start, going six innings with six hits, two walks and six strikeouts. Josh Sborz tossed a perfect seventh before Kyle Crockett came on for a two-inning save for the second straight day. He allowed a one-out single in the eighth, but rolled a 6-4-3 double play to end the frame. After a strikeout, he allowed a pinch-hit single to Chris Schaedel. He fanned the next two for his 12th save.

Virginia snapped the scoreless tie with a pair in the top of the fourth. Nick Howard had a one-out single and came home on a double by Kenny Towns. Nate Irving had a base hit up the middle to bring in Towns and up the lead to 2-0.

Both teams had multiple opportunities to score, as both squads stranded 10.

“I’m really proud of our effort,” said Elon head coach Mike Kennedy. “I thought we played hard, I thought we competed well and we had some opportunities. That’s what you want to have in a venue like this, and I think our guys understand that we’ll get better from it.”

Spencer Medick (7-7) went the distance for Elon, allowing nine hits, three walks and two runs while striking out four.

“I threw the sinker a lot today and tried to get some ground balls to keep the ball in the park,” Medick said. “I was leaving the ball up in the zone a bit too much back in May and April, and I was able to keep the ball down and do a lot of ground balls today.”

Howard, Mike Papi and Brandon Downes each had two hits for the Cavaliers.

Alex Swim went 3 for 4 for the Phoenix.