Cavs Take Opener for Split of Twinbill with #12 Union

April 12, 2008
Game 1 Boxscore

Game 2 Boxscore

Barbourville, Ky. – For the third weekend in a row, the UVa-Wise baseball team faced one of the top other teams in the Appalachian Athletic Conference. The Highland Cavaliers received seven hits between Matt Duffy and John Bigley to defeat 12th-ranked Union College, 10-8, in the opener before Marty Popham fired a one-hitter in a 10-0 home win in six innings.

Duffy ( Martinsville, Va.) produced a four-hit game in the opener with a double and two rbi. Bigley (Woodbridge, Va.) kept his solid week going with two doubles in his three hits. Jorge Laboy (Woodbridge, Va.) doubled in the first game and had the lone hit, a single, in the second game. Luis Roa doubled and singled while Josh Verts (Winchester, Va.) and Brad Austin (Hillsville, Va.) posted run-scoring hits.

Brock Funk (Fries, Va.) fought through 6 1/3 innings for his fourth win of the year. D’Andre Bussey (Va. Beach, Va.) allowed a run in two innings before Verts shut the door on Union (32-9/10-4 AAC) for his third save.

Game 1

The Bulldogs came out of the box with four runs in the bottom of the first compliments of a Cavs’ error for a 4-0 score.

The Cavs (18-17/8-6 AAC) answered in the top of the second to tie the game, 4-4. Duffy singled, Roa was hit by a pitch and Alan Stoupa ( McLean, Va.) walked. Austin singled home one run, Laboy added the second on a fielder’s choice before Verts knocked in the last two on his own hit.

UVa-Wise edged in front, 6-4, with two runs in the fifth. With two on in the visiting sixth, Bigley and Duffy lined back-to-back doubles to plate three mores tallies for a 9-4 score. Laboy doubled home the final UVa-Wise run in the seventh.

Union mounted a comeback with a trio of runs in the home seventh to make it 10-7. After a Bulldog solo homer and one out, Verts came to entice a fly out and a ground out for the save and 10-7 UVa-Wise win.

Game 2

Union starter Marty Popham and five UVa-Wise errors were the story of game two. Popham allowed just a first inning single by the Cavs’ Laboy and did not give up another. The hurler improved to 10-1 and struck out six hitters.

At the plate, the Bulldogs scored multiple runs in three of the six innings the game lasted. Union plated two in the second, four in the third and another three in the fifth on its way to the 10-0 shutout.

UVa-Wise will now be off until hosting Emory & Henry on Wednesday afternoon starting at 4:00 p.m.

Game 1

VAW 040 023 100 10-14-2
UC 400 000 301 8-11-2

VAW-Funk, Bussey (7), Verts (9) and Stoupa
UC-Dougherty, White (2), Nuss (7), Logsdon (8) and Hart

Win: Funk (4-3); Loss: White; SV: Verts (3)
2B: Laboy (VAW), Bigley (VAW) 2, Duffy (VAW), Roa (VAW), Grinstead (UC); 3B: Kysar (UC); HR: Ehringer (UC)

Game 2

VAW 000 000 0-1-5
UC 204 031 10-8-0

VAW-David Jones, Seth Frisby (5), Jonathan Painter (6) and Stoupa/Adam Skoranski (4)
UC-Popham and Hart

Win: Popham (10-1); Loss: Jones (3-4)
2B: Henriquez (UC); HR: Grinstead (UC), Hart (UC)