The Cavalier daily Wednesday, April 25, 1973 | ||
Diamonders Fall To Richmond Nine
By FLETCHER THOMPSON
It might have been a
post-ACC tournament letdown
or maybe it was just a bad case
of spring fever, but, whatever
the malady, the varsity baseball
team stumbled to a 5-2 defeat
at the hand of Richmond
yesterday at Lannigan Field.
Sloppy fielding, an absence
of clutch hitting, and mental
miscues all contributed to the
demise of the Cavaliers, whose
record on the year dropped to
13-11-1.
The Cavaliers' blahs weren't
immediately apparent as
starting pitcher Harry Thomas
sent the Spiders to the dug-out
in the first inning, allowing
only a walk.
A repeat of last year's 18-3
joke appeared to be in the
offing, when lead-off batters
Duval White and Dan Bernstein
shook up Spider hurler Jeff
Boteler with back-to-back hits
and Steve Sroba walked to fill
the base paths.
A wild pitch with Dave
"Elmer" Bratt at the plate
brought in White from third,
and Bratt reloaded the bases by
drawing another pass.
Rally Fizzles
Complacency struck at this
point as Jonathan Williams
popped out, Gene Pallotta hit
Bratt with a grounder for the
second out, and Pete Anderson
struck out.
Richmond put a quick end
to any hopes for a Virginia
walk-away and went to work
on Thomas. Left-fielder Phil
Rowland blooped a single to
center and third-sacker Bill
Daley provided his teammates
with the lead on a two-run
homer. Charlie Talley and
Lunn Gillette pounded out two
singles and Thomas, who was
relieved by Duane Harris.
Harris fanned the next two
batters and then tried to pick
off Gillette at first. The ball
eluded Pallotta and Talley
trotted home from third to put
the score at 3-1.
Spiders Score Two More
Richmond posted another
run in the fourth when Gilette
reached on an error, was
sacrificed to second, and came
home when Harris dozed off
after covering first on a
grounder.
A ninth-inning tally on a hit
batsman, a steal and a single by
first-baseman Roger Hatcher
wrapped up the visitors'
scoring.
Cavs' Attack Listless
In the meantime, the Cavs
were either wasting lead-off
singles or giving Boteler a free
ride. With two out in the ninth
they finally aroused themselves
and scored on a Craig Wagner
double and a pinch-hit single
by Tim Hall. Hall was thrown
out trying to take second after
a pitch got away from catcher
Gillette.
Tech Next
For the afternoon,
Richmond had ten hits and
made one error, while the Cavs
punched out eight safeties and
committed three errors.
Virginia Tech's Gobblers
supply the Cavs with their next
test tomorrow in Hokie
country.
The Cavalier daily Wednesday, April 25, 1973 | ||