Dukes beat Hokies in wild game
Brian Wright and Clark Ruhland, CT Sports Staff
April 25, 2007
"Wild Thing" was played in-between innings during Virginia Tech's baseball game with the James Madison Dukes. Tuesday night, the song was most prophetic.
In a contest that featured six wild pitches and ten walks, the Dukes took advantage of their opportunities and defeated the Hokies, 8-6 at English Field.
Tech's (17-24) last win came just over two weeks ago when they beat the Richmond Spiders on April 10.
Trying to turn things around, the Hokies didn't waste time putting up runs in the first inning. With one out, a single by third baseman Bryan Thomas and a fielding error by Dukes' shortstop Davis Stoneburner brought first baseman Sean O'Brien home. Thomas was at second base until a wild pitch sent him to third and he quickly scored on an RBI groundout by catcher Anthony Sosnoskie.
Tech starting pitcher Evan Frederickson had a smooth first three innings of work. In the fourth, however, the left-hander began to lose control of his pitches as the Hokies relinquished their lead.
The Dukes would score on three wild pitches to go up by a run. An RBI single by second baseman Mike Fabiaschi forced Tech head coach Pete Hughes to make a pitching change.
Fredrickson exited after 3 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits. His greatest undoing was his six walks and four wild pitches.
"You have to live and die with a kid that gives up five runs in one inning," a frustrated Hughes said. "They scored three runs on wild pitches. Three. How much offense can we generate when we give up soft runs like that?"
JMU scored once more in the third inning to take a three-run advantage.
The Hokies clawed back in the bottom half of the fourth with a double by Ryan Parks that scored left fielder Jose Cueto.
An infield single by Parks to start the fifth inning led to the fourth Hokie run of the game.
"I'm coming out a bit of a slump," he said. "When you're doing that, you have to take every hit you can get. In baseball, you'll have so many hits that are rockets right to somebody. Then you'll have a slow roller and get a base hit out of it."
After striking out in his first at-bat, Parks managed a 3-for-4 evening.
Shortstop Warren Schaeffer's sacrifice fly to centerfield scored Parks and cut the Dukes' lead to one.
After JMU scored a single run in the sixth, the Hokies found a way to respond again.
Following a Hacker triple into the left field gap, O'Brien drove him in with a sacrifice fly of his own.
Still, the Dukes kept Tech from drawing even. In the top of the eight, the fifth wild pitch by Tech hurlers - this time from reliever Rhett Ballard - increased the JMU lead.
Both teams traded runs in the final frame, and the Dukes improved their record to 16-25.
The Hokies' next opponent only has a short drive up Price's Fork Road today when they face the Radford Highlanders tonight at English Field. Rob Whitley's first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.