Lehigh University
No. 17 Virginia
Lehigh drops two tough games in opener
2/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Mountain Hawks opened the 2008 season with a pair of losses at the hands of No. 17 Virginia. Lehigh lost the first game 5-1, facing one of the nation's top pitchers in Jacob Thompson. In the second game, the Brown and White received a great pitching performance from sophomore Greg Angelo, but Lehigh could not hang on for the victory, falling 4-1. The losses drop Lehigh's record to 0-2, while the Cavaliers pick up their first victories of the season, improving to 2-0.
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In game one, Virginia struck first in the bottom of the third. David Adams started the inning off with a walk, and then proceeded to steal second. He advanced to third on a fly out by David Coleman, and scored on a sac fly to center by Jeremy Farrell.
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The Mountain Hawks answered back in the top of fourth, as the inning started with a leadoff single by Glenn Seitz. Seitz advanced to second on a left field single by freshman Logan Marshall. The next batter, Geoff Campbell, hit a groundball to the shortstop, who made the throw to the second baseman, Adams to force out Logan at second. However, Adams tried to turn the double-play, and an errant throw allowed Seitz to score on the play to tie the game at 1-1.
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Senior Joe Matteo shut down the Virginia batters in the next half inning, and left the game, throwing four strong innings, striking out one and giving up just five hits.
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The Cavaliers rallied in the bottom of the fifth to score four runs off Billy Alec, who came into to relieve Matteo. Alec was credited with the loss, going 0.0 innings giving up four earned runs on two hits. Thompson picked up the win for Virginia, going five innings, surrendering one run on five hits, while striking out six.
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In game two, the teams played four scoreless innings to start the game, with the Cavaliers scoring the first run of the game in the bottom of the fifth. The Mountain Hawks answered in the top of the seventh, when freshman Billy Goldman picked up his first career RBI, driving in classmate Marshall on a single through the left side of the infield.
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Virginia did not wait around long to answer, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the inning off reliever Andrew Grimm, to take a 3-1 lead. The Cavaliers scored one more in the bottom of the eighth to secure the victory.
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Angelo had a great game on the mound for Lehigh, going six innings surrendering two hits and just that one run in the fifth, while striking out five to earn a no-decision. Grimm was credited with the loss, giving up two runs on two hits in one inning of work. Kevin Arico earned the win in relief for Virginia, giving up just one hit in 1.1 innings.
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The Mountain Hawks and Cavilers meet for the final two games of the series tomorrow, beginning at 11 a.m. from Davenport Field.
