Feb. 29, 2008

No. 16 Virginia Earns Thursday Win over Coppin State

The Virginia baseball team moved to 6-0 Thursday after posting a 27-1 win over Coppin State in seven innings at Davenport Field. The win gives Virginia its first 6-0 start since the 1997 season. The Cavaliers racked up 22 hits Thursday, as four players had three or more hits.

Robert Poutier (Sr., Yorktown, Va.) pitched five excellent innings for Virginia, allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out a career-best 11 batters. Freshmen Sean Tierney (Moseley, Va.) and Jake Cowan (Roswell, Ga.) each made their first UVa appearances and pitched an inning apiece to wrap up the game. Nick Ericson took the loss for Coppin State, which fell to 0-2 on the season.

Corey Hunt (So., Charlottesville, Va.) paced the offense, going 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. Dan Grovatt (Fr., Tabernacle, N.J.) went 3-for-4 with five RBI, while John Barr (Fr., Ivyland, Pa.) drove in five as part of 3-for-5 outing. Mark Riffee (So., Vienna, Va.) went 3-for-4 and scored five times, while Phil Gosselin (Fr., West Chester, Pa.) went 3-for-4, scored twice and drove in two.

No. 2 Tar Heels Topple Winthrop, 6-1

North Carolina second baseman Kyle Seager hit a two-run home run and matched a career high with three RBI, and right-hander Adam Warren held Winthrop to one run over 5 1/3 innings in a 6-1 Tar Heel victory Thursday in game two of the Coca-Cola Classic at The Winthrop Ballpark.

Seager, who was 2-for-4 and added two runs scored, singled and scored the first run for Carolina (4-1) in the fourth. The Kannapolis sophomore then drove in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth before belting his third home run of the year in the eighth. Shortstop Garrett Gore, who did not start the last two games due to a hamstring injury, also added two hits and two runs scored. First baseman Dustin Ackley extended his hitting streak to nine games dating to last season.

One start after allowing a career-high eight earned runs over 1 1/3 innings, Warren (1-0) gave up one earned run on six hits and one walk to run his career record to 14-0 at UNC. He was lifted in the sixth with a runner on second, but lefty Brian Moran promptly struck out the first two batters he faced to end the inning.

Guinn's Two-Run Homer The Difference As FSU Downs Auburn 7-5

Despite game time temperatures in the mid-40's, Florida State (4-0) didn't let the cold weather effect its play in the first of a four game set against Auburn as the Seminoles passed an early season test downing Auburn (4-1) 7-5 in their first road contest of the season. Senior Dennis Guinn and freshman Stuart Tapley each recorded three hits while Seminole starter Elih Villanueva worked 5.1 innings to register his second win of the season.

Guinn was the difference maker as his two-run homer in the top of the eighth gave the Seminoles a three-run cushion. The senior from Haines City, Fla., was a triple short of hitting for the cycle as he collected three RBIs, scored twice and made nine putouts at first base.

Tapley went 3-for-4 at the plate with a triple and a run scored, while Buster Posey posted two hits in three at-bats with a run and an RBI. He also went to the mound in the ninth and earned his first collegiate save.

Boston College Downed by World Champion Red Sox, 24-0

The Boston College baseball team opened its spring training trip by falling to the 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox, 24-0, in front of 7,230 fans at the City of Palms Park, Thursday afternoon.

BC starter Ted Ratliff retired the only three batters he faced in the first inning. The senior enticed Jacoby Ellsbury to ground out to third base. Dustin Pedroia followed by hitting a line drive off Ratliff's leg, which third baseman Eric Campbell picked up and threw to first baseman Michael Belfiore for the second out of the inning. David Ortiz ended the frame by popping up to Campbell for the third out.

The Red Sox answered the scoreless first when they tallied eight runs in the second inning, five runs in the fourth inning, nine runs in the fifth inning and two runs in the sixth inning.