North Carolina State University Athletics
Benick, Koshansky Lead Virginia Past Baseball, 10-2
3/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Jon Benick had two homers and three RBIs to go along with four hits, and freshman lefthander Joe Koshansky scattered 10 hits over 7 1/3 innings to lead Virginia past NC State 10-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference baseball action this afternoon at the UVa Baseball Field.
The Cavaliers, who won for the second time in as many games in the three-game ACC series, improved to 4-4 in the conference, 15-9 overall. The Wolfpack, which lost its third in a row, fell to 3-5 in the league and 11-13 overall.
Koshansky (3-2) picked up the win for the Cavaliers with an outstanding performance. He was charged with two runs, but left the game holding a 9-1 lead. He walked three and struck out five. NC State starter Dan D’Amato (3-3) allowed eight runs on 11 hits in five innings to take the loss. D’Amato walked none and struck out five.
Koshansky kept NC State off balance all afternoon with a mixture of changeups and breaking pitches. He had just one 1-2-3 inning, but aside from Colt Morton’s solo home run in the top of the first inning and a scratch run in the top of the eighth, the Pack was unable to mount a serious threat.
Morton’s first-inning homer, his eighth, gave the Wolfpack a 1-0 lead, but Virginia came right back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. David Stone led off with a bloop single to shallow center field, and Rob Newton rolled a single through the right side of the infield. Benick singled to right field to load the bases with none out. Hunter Wyant drilled a two-run single to right, and Mark Rueffert bunted the runners to second and third. Dan Street drove in the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, and Eric Christensen bounced a single up the middle to make it 4-1 in favor of the Cavaliers.
Benick led off the bottom of the third for the Cavs and drilled a long home run to left-center field. Two outs later, Street drilled his fourth homer of the season to the same spot, giving Virginia a 6-1 lead.
The Cavaliers continued to pour it on in the bottom of the sixth. Benick drilled another leadoff homer, this one down the left-field line, his 11th, to make it 7-1. Wyant hit an infield single and went to second on a groundout. Street reached on another infield single to put runners on the corners, and Christensen made it 8-1 with an RBI groundout.
Jason Blanton relieved D’Amato to start the bottom of the sixth, and Virginia got a gift run off him. Doug Vroman singled up the middle, stole second and went to third on a groundout. With two down, Benick’s high pop-up to very shallow center field fell in for a cheap RBI single, extending the Cavaliers’ lead to 9-1.
The Pack finally got back on the board with a run in the top of the eighth. Sammy Esposito led off with a pinch-hit single to right field and hustled to second when Jamey Shearin fouled out. David Hicks drew a walk, and Matt Butler delivered an RBI single to right, the Wolfpack’s second pinch-hit of the inning, to drive in Esposito and cut the lead to 9-2.
Vroman and Stone led off the bottom of the eighth with walks. With one out, Benick reached on an error to load the bases. Wyant then singled to left to drive in Vroman and make the final score 10-2.
