March 10, 2009
Box Score
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The 18th-ranked Virginia baseball team pounded out 23 base hits to defeat Navy, 17-1, on Tuesday afternoon at Davenport Field. The Midshipmen fell to 4-5-1 on the year, while the host Cavaliers remained perfect on the year and improved to 13-0.
"Obviously, Virginia is an outstanding baseball team and showed today why they are hitting over .400 as a team this year," stated Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos. "They came off a great weekend at Wake Forest, where they scored 47 runs, and just kept on swinging."
After two scoreless innings, Virginia exploded for 13 unanswered runs between the third and fifth innings. Phil Gosselin broke the game open with a grand slam in the fourth and Dan Grovatt also went deep for the Cavaliers in the same frame. One inning later, Tyler Cannon belted a bases-loaded, bases-clearing double to the gap in left center to cap the scoring in the fifth.
Navy erased Virginia's hopes for a shutout with a run in the sixth inning. Jonathan Wright (So./Arden, N.C.) and Mike Guadagnini (So./Virginia Beach, Va.) led off with back-to-back singles before both moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Kendall Bolt (Jr./Stockton, Calif.) lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Wright.
Navy starter Jonathan Berkowitz (Jr./Parkland, Fla.) was tagged for the loss, as he allowed six runs on six hits over 3.1 innings with four walks and four strikeouts. His record fell to 0-2 on the year.
"I like how Jonathan competed out there having not pitched much this year," said Kostacopoulos. "Outside of the grand slam, he worked out of some jams and really went after the batters. He will continue to develop as the season progresses."
Gosselin led Virginia with a 2-for-3 performance at the plate with three runs scored, two walks and four RBIs. The Cavaliers had 10 batters record multi-hit performances on the afternoon.
Virginia starter Jeff Lorick earned the win, as he allowed only one run on three hits over six innings with two walks and four strikeouts. The Virginia southpaw is now 2-0 on the year.
The Midshipmen will return to Terwilliger Brothers Field at Max Bishop Stadium to host Monmouth this Friday at 3 p.m. Admission to all home Navy baseball games are free and live stats will be available via GameTracker on www.NavySports.com(.)
DIAMOND NOTES
- Navy is now 10-15 all-time against Virginia, with the Cavaliers winning each of the last-six meetings ... the Mids are now 91-103-4 all-time against teams currently affiliated with the Atlantic Coast Conference.
- Jonathan Wright and Mike Guadagnini each extended their hitting streaks to five games with back-to-back singles in the sixth inning.
- Josh Moore delivered a pinch-hit single in the eighth inning for the Mids ... Navy is 6-for-17 in pinch-hitting situations this season.
- Jonathan Berkowitz made his second career start on the mound and his first since April 18, 2007, at Georgetown ... he tied his career high in strikeouts on Tuesday with four, matching his effort in the aforementioned game against the Hoyas.
- Phil Gosselin's grand slam in the fourth inning for Virginia was the first grand slam allowed by the Midshipmen since Lehigh's Matt McBride on April 16, 2006, in Annapolis.
- Virginia's 17 runs and 23 hits were the most allowed by the Midshipmen since they allowed 20 runs on 27 hits at home against Princeton on March 22, 2008 ... the Cavaliers came into the day hitting .397 as a team and each of their nine starters on Tuesday entered the contest hitting above .300.
- Peter Kostacopoulos, father of Navy head coach Paul Kostacopoulos, made the trip down to Charlottesville to watch his son's Midshipmen take on the Cavaliers ... Peter was a head coach for 27 seasons at Wesleyan University and racked up more than 400 career wins.
