#21 Cavalier Baseball Faces Marshall Wednesday

Story Links

March 21, 2006

Game #24
Mar. 22, 2006
#21 Virginia (19-4) vs. Marshall (8-7), 4 p.m.
UVa LHP: Pat McAnaney (2-1, 5.03 ERA)
Marshall RHP: Adam Dobies (0-0, 7.20 ERA)
Davenport Field at UVa Baseball Stadium
Charlottesville, Va.

Gametracker

#21 VIRGINIA CONTINUES HOME-STAND BY HOSTING MARSHALL
Virginia looks to keep its 14-game home winning streak going when the Cavaliers host Marshall Wednesday at 4 p.m. The game was an addition to the 2006 schedule after the Cavaliers cancelled a game with Liberty, originally scheduled for Tues. Mar. 21. Virginia is coming off a three-game sweep of then No. 2 Clemson over the weekend. Sophomore LHP Pat McAnaney (2-1, 5.03 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season against the Thundering Herd. Marshall will put RHP Adam Dobies (0-0, 7.20 ERA) on the mound.

SCOUTING MARSHALL
The Thundering Herd (8-7) was scheduled to have the mid-week off before traveling to play its first Conference USA series at Houston this weekend. Marshall swept Cleveland State, 16-7, 20-9 and 6-1. Brendan Murphy hit .429 (9-for-21) last week with a team-best three home runs, six extra-base hits and 11 RBI to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. He had the game-winning RBI in the final two games of the Cleveland State series. As a team, Marshall is hitting .352 led by Murphy, who has 27 RBIs on 22 hits including seven doubles and six home runs.

SERIES VS. MARSHALL
Virginia leads the all-time series with Marshall, 8-0. The Cavaliers last met the Thundering Herd during the 1995 season when the Cavs won, 8-3.This is the first meeting with Marshall under Brian O’Connor.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia improved to 19-4 on the season and 4-2 in the ACC after completing a three-game sweep of No. 2 Clemson over the weekend. Virginia also defeated Dayton last week, 10-3, to finish the week, 4-0. The Cavaliers used a sacrifice fly from Brandon Marsh to score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth Friday for a 2-1 win. Sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle struck out a career-high nine in eight innings in earning the no decision in game one. In game two against Clemson, UVa exploded for nine runs, all with two outs, in the bottom of the sixth to post a 10-2 win over the Tigers. In the series finale, the Cavaliers scored six runs in their last three at-bats including a three-run, two out rally, in the eighth to complete the sweep … Head Coach Brian O’Connor ran his record to 9-2 all-time against the Tigers and have won six straight in the series dating back to last season. It was the second time he’s swept Clemson. Clemson has never won in Charlottesville since O’Connor took over the UVa program … Virginia hit .370 in the series against Clemson, out-hitting the Tigers, 37-17. In six ACC games against #1 Ga. Tech and #2 Clemson, Virginia has hit. 344, out-hitting the two teams, 72-41 … The Cavalier pitching staff held Clemson to a .175 batting average for the series as Clemson managed only 17 hits in the series and struck out 25 times in 27 innings. The staff is holding opponents to .215 batting average in ACC games, while striking out 38 in 36 innings … In four games last week, UVa hit .358 as a team and held opponents to a .183 batting average.

HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia cracked the Top 25 in college baseball polls. The Cavaliers are No. 21 in Collegiate Baseball, No. 22 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, 24th in Baseball America and 25th in the NCBWA poll. SEBaseball.com has UVa as the 17th best team in the nation while the Hoos are 22nd in the Rosenblattreport.com poll.

HOO NOTES
– Sophomore left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle moved to the Friday starter spot and struck out a career-high nine batters in a career-long eight inning outing to help the Cavaliers to a 2-1 win over #2 Clemson. Doolittle earned the no decision, but held the Tigers to four hits in eight innings. In two games against Clemson and Georgia Tech, Doolittle is 1-0 with 16 strikeouts in 14 innings holding the opponents to a 1.89 batting avg.
– Junior lefty Casey Lambert picked up two wins over No. 2 Clemson at home over the weekend in helping Virginia improve to 4-2 in the ACC. Lambert no-hit Clemson for one inning with the score tied, 1-1, to set up UVa for a 2-1 win Friday. In the series finale, he entered in the eighth and tossed 1 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball with the game tied, 4-4, as UVa went on to win 7-4.
– Senior designated hitter Tom Hagan had a good Clemson series going 6-for-11 with one run and two RBI. Hagan is hitting .388 on the season.
– Freshman second baseman David Adams drove in four runs last week including a 3-for-5 performance against Dayton. Adams continues to lead the team with three home runs. He ranks fourth in RBIs.
– Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer led the team with four RBIs in the Clemson series while hitting .417 (5-for-12).
– Junior center fielder Tim Henry capped off his week by delivering the game-winning hit that put UVa ahead for good in the series finale win over Clemson. Henry scored the game-winning run in the first game of the Clemson series. Henry hit .389 last week going 7-for-18 with four runs and four RBIs. Henry is second on the team with 22 RBIs.
– Junior outfielder Brandon Marsh continued his hot hitting for the Cavs. Marsh hit .600 last week going 9-for-15 with 3 RBIs at the plate in helping UVa to a perfect 4-0 week. He also scored five runs and stole two bases. He slugged .800 and had a .632 on-base percentage. Against Dayton, Marsh went 2-for-4 with one run scored and stolen bases. In the Clemson series, the junior college transfer hit .636, slugged .909 and posted a .667 on-base percentage. He drove in both runs in the 2-1 win over Clemson Friday night including the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. In Saturday’s game, he went 1-for-2 with a run and drew three walks. In the series finale, Marsh matched a career-high going 4-for-5 with three runs scored, one RBI and a triple. On the season, Marsh is hitting .517 (30-for-58) with 18 runs and 12 RBI. He’s slugging .655 with a .586 on-base percentage.
– Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson moved to 5-0 on the season after picking up the win in the second game of the Clemson series. Thompson held the Tigers to two runs on six hits in seven innings and struck out five. Opponents are only hitting .184 against Thompson.
– Sophomore lefty Pat McAnaney struck out seven in 5.2 innings to earn his second win of the season in a 10-3 win over Dayton.

LAMBERT, MARSH GARNER ACC WEEKLY HONORS
Virginia junior left-handed pitcher Casey Lambert was tabbed Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week while teammate Brandon Marsh shared ACC Co-Player of the Week honors with North Carolina’s Jay Cox announced by the league office Monday. Lambert, a southpaw from Harrisonburg, Va., came on in relief and picked up two wins over No. 2 Clemson over the weekend. The junior no-hit the Tigers for one inning with the score tied, 1-1, to set up Virginia for a 2-1 win Friday. In the series finale, he entered the game in the eighth inning and tossed 1 1/3 innings of no-hit baseball with the game tied, 4-4, as Virginia went on to win 7-4. Lambert struck out two of the last three batters of the game to preserve the series sweep. In four appearances against No. 1 Georgia Tech and No. 2 Clemson, Lambert has two wins and one save. On the season, he is 2-1 with three saves and a 1.96 ERA. He has recorded 22 strikeouts in 18.1 innings while holding opponents to a .210 batting average. Marsh, a junior from Alpharetta, Ga., hit .600 last week going 9-for-15 with three RBIs at the plate in helping Virginia to a perfect 4-0 week. In addition, he scored five runs, stole two bases, slugged .800 and had a .632 on-base percentage. Against Dayton, the outfielder went 2-for-4 with one run scored and two stolen bases. In the series sweep of No. 2 Clemson, the junior college transfer hit .636, slugged .909 and posted a .667 on-base percentage. He drove in both runs in Virginia’s 2-1 win over Clemson on Friday, including the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth. In Saturday’s game, he went 1-for-2 with a run and drew three walks. In the series finale, Marsh matched a career-high going 4-for-5 with three runs scored, one RBI and a triple. On the season, Marsh is hitting .517 with 18 runs and 12 RBIs. He is slugging .655 with a .586 on-base percentage.