Lehigh University
No. 12 Virginia
Lehigh falls to UVa in NCAA Regional opener
6/2/2006 7:00:00 PM | Baseball
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The Mountain Hawks could not ask for a better start to their first ever NCAA Regional game. Sophomore Joe Ercolano laced a single to lead to left field to lead off the game and then two batters later, junior Matt McBride drilled the first pitch he saw from Mike Ballard over the left field wall for a two-run home run to give the Brown and White a 2-0 lead. The blast was McBride’s 12th of the season, tying him with senior Andrew Smith for the school single season record. Smith hit 12 long balls a year ago.
The lead would not last long however, as UVa, the regional host and top seed, answered with three runs in the bottom of the first on a pair of sacrifice flies and a bases loaded walk. The Cavs added a run in the second and two more in the third to take a 6-2 lead and chase Lehigh senior starter Kyle Collina. The right-hander allowed six runs and six hits in two and a third innings, while striking out three and walking two as Collina’s record drops to 6-6.
After giving up five hits in the first two innings, Ballard settled down, allowing just two walks until the seventh inning while his teammates added four more runs to make it 10-2.
The resilient Mountain Hawks refused to go down without a fight, as they finally pushed three runs across in the seventh inning. Sophomore Liam O’Connor plated senior Mike Sandonato with a sacrifice fly, and after knocking Ballard out of the game senior Matt Geiger and McBride hit back-to-back singles to pull Lehigh within 10-5.
The Cavaliers added one more run in the seventh and Andrew Carraway kept Lehigh off the scoreboard in the final two innings.
Lehigh finished with 10 hits including two apiece from Geiger, McBride and Sandonato.
Brandon Guyer paced
“We say why they (Virginia) won 47 games,” said Lehigh head coach Sean Leary. “They’re a solid team and played a very good game. They did all the little things well and we weren’t at the top of our game against them. You can’t not be at the top of your game and beat a team like them.”
A second batch of rain and thunderstorms forced the postponement of game two between No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 Evansville. That game will now open Saturday’s tripleheader with first pitch at 11:00 am. The Mountain Hawks are scheduled to play the loser of that game in an elimination game slated for a 3:00 pm first pitch on Saturday. The game will be broadcast in the
