WILLIAMSBURG — Snow in Charlottesville prompted the move of Wednesday night’s baseball game between No. 1-ranked Virginia and William and Mary to Plumeri Park, but the change of venue didn’t seem to make a difference to the Cavaliers, who notched 19 hits on their way to a 17-2 win over the Tribe.
Virginia opened up a big lead early. With one out in the second, third baseman Kenny Towns flew out to left field, driving in a run. Then, with a man on third, catcher Nate Irving lined an RBI single to left.
William and Mary should’ve gotten out of the inning on the next play, when shortstop Daniel Pinero grounded to short. The throw beat Pinero by a good distance, but Tribe first baseman Willie Shaw pulled his foot off the bag early and Pinero was called safe. Two batters later, first baseman Mike Papi belted a grand slam to right, putting the Cavaliers on top 6-0.
In the third, Daniel Powers came in to replace the Tribe’s starter, Bryson Kauhaahaa, who earned the loss after just two innings, four hits and six runs, only one of which was earned.
William and Mary got on the board in the fourth, when right fielder Nick Thompson singled and left fielder Michael Katz drove a two-run homer over the center-field wall, making it 6-2. It was his fourth home run in as many games.
“He just hung up a change-up to me,” Katz said. “… I’m seeing the ball well. Hopefully I can carry that into the weekend, but today it didn’t really work out as we hoped. Nothing much we can do about it. We’re trying to get going, and we know this is just a small speed bump. We’ll be there at the end of the year, hopefully.”
Katz’s homer was just about the extent of the Tribe’s offensive output, as William and Mary recorded just five hits.
Right fielder Joe McCarthy extended the Cavaliers’ lead with a solo shot to right in the fifth, but the floodgates opened in the sixth.
Papi drove in two more with a single on a playable ground ball to second, then McCarthy drove a fly ball to center that the Tribe’s Derek Lowe dropped, scoring two more. Center fielder Brandon Downes hit a three-run homer, Irving and Pinero both hit RBI singles, and pinch hitter John La Prise capped things off with an RBI double. After a sixth inning that featured nine runs on nine hits and two errors, Virginia led 16-2.
“This is just one of those days where we had a tremendous offensive day and capitalized on some opportunities,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “These days don’t happen very often in college baseball and against a really good opponent. … We just really swung the bats great.”
The scoring ended in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Virginia designated hitter Nick Howard. Both teams used five pitchers, and none of the Tribe’s left without giving up an earned run.
“Obviously they’re a really good team, and we would’ve needed to play our best to beat them and we didn’t,” Tribe coach Brian Murphy said. “I didn’t think we were very good in any area. Obviously when you give up 17, you don’t really stand a chance, but there was no facet of the game we played our best in.”
The call to move the game to Williamsburg wasn’t made until Tuesday. William and Mary hadn’t yet left for Charlottesville, but the Cavaliers didn’t get into Williamsburg until around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“We made the decision yesterday afternoon that I just didn’t feel like our field was playable,” O’Connor said. “We had a lot of snow there last week, and it just wasn’t able to be played on. I talked to Coach Murphy and he had said that they’d be willing to host us here, and it was an easy switch.”
VIRGINIA 17, WILLIAM AND MARY 2
Virginia 060 019 100 — 17 18 1
William and Mary 000 200 000 — 2 5 3
WP: Lewicki (1-0). LP: Kauhaahaa (0-1). Standouts: U.Va., La Prise 2-2 (double, 1 RBI), Papi 2-4 (2 runs, grand slam in second, 6 RBI), McCarthy 2-4 (HR, 3 runs, 2 RBI), Downes 3-5 (HR, double, 2 runs, 2 RBI), Fisher 2-4 (double, 1 run, 1 steal), Irving 3-4 (3 runs, 2 RBI), Pinero 2-3 (2 runs, 1 RBI, 1 steal); W&M, Katz 2-3 (2-run HR in fourth), Thompson 1-3 (1 run). Records: U.Va. 3-1, W&M 2-2.
