It was a difficult week for us as we went 2-2 against two quality opponents. In the midweek, it took another late-inning rally to down the Dukes of JMU, and over the weekend, we were only victorious on Saturday – losing two of three to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem.

On Tuesday, we boarded the bus and headed to James Madison for what was to be a rare midweek away game. Despite their early season struggles, we knew the Dukes had a strong team, and they certainly lived up to that.

As the leads changed a few times, it was ultimately our bullpen and Brandon Marsh (who notched his second consecutive game-winning hit) who stepped up and propelled us to our 13th straight victory. It was somewhat surreal as Allie Swanson, a senior pitcher for the Dukes, took the loss. Allie pitched for us the last two years before transferring to JMU this fall.

With things going well for us in all facets of the game, we were ready to begin league play at Wake.

On Friday afternoon, we sent Sean Doolittle to the mound but the Deacon bats came alive as Wake’s timely hitting gave them an 8-3 victory. Greg Miclat and David Adams continued to swing the bat well as they both collected two hits.

The great thing about baseball is that you’re able to wipe the slate clean and start over fresh the next day and that’s exactly what we did.

On Saturday, we made it a point to really take it to them from the first pitch. We scored five runs in the first two innings and eventually jumped out to a 12-0 lead. Adams was on fire, spraying singles all over the yard as led us going 5 for 6.

Getting our first ACC win under our belts was big, and we went into Championship Sunday looking to get a series win on the road.

Matt Packer toed the hill for the rubber match and gave a gutsy six innings while earning a no-decision, and Beau Seabury collected four hits. But once again, it was Wake’s timely hitting that gave them the 7-6 come-from-behind win.

Answering Wake’s Allan Dykstra’s two home runs were Doolittle and Brandon Guyer. Doolittle’s three-run shot put us up 5-2, but in their ball park, no lead is safe with the wind blowing out and a short porch in right. After Dykstra’s second homer put them up 6-5, Guyer had a tremendous at-bat against Wake closer Ben Hunter.

Hunter, who relies on his slider as his out pitch, left one out over the plate, and Guyer got all of it tying the game at 6 in the top of the ninth. In the bottom half they pieced together a few singles and won in walk-off fashion 7-6.

From a baseball fan’s perspective, it was an awesome game to be apart of - a lot of strategy going on with pinch-hitters and match ups out of the bullpen. Unfortunately we come up a little short.

This week, we’ll look to bounce back as Niagara comes to town on Tuesday and we head down to Chapel Hill to take on UNC over the weekend.

Go Hoos!

Jeremy Farrell

(photo courtesy of Virginia Media Relations Office)