Story Links
April 20, 2006
Games #42-44
Apr. 21-23, 2006
#17 Virginia (32-9, 11-7 ACC) at #19 Miami (26-13, 11-7 ACC
Mark Light Field
Miami, Fla.
Apr. 21, 7 p.m.
Virginia – LHP Sean Doolittle (6-1, 2.15 ERA)
Miami – RHP Carlos Gutierrez (8-3, 2.99 ERA)
Gametracker 1
Sat. Apr. 22, 7 p.m.
Virginia – RHP Jacob Thompson (7-1, 2.57 ERA)
Miami – LHP Manny Miguelez (5-3, 3.19 ERA)
Gametracker 2
Sun. Apr. 23, 1 p.m.
Virginia – LHP Mike Ballard (6-2, 2.30 ERA
Miami – LHP Scott Maine (6-2, 4.66 ERA)
Television: CSS (Live in the Southeast)The game will be showed on tape delay in Charlottesville on Mon. Apr.24 at 7 p.m. on Comcast Sportsnet.
Gametracker 3
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Fans can also listen to all three games locally on WINA AM 1070 or via the internet at www.virginiasports.com.
#17 VIRGINIA HEADS TO #11 MIAMI FOR ACC COASTAL DIVISION SHOWDOWN
No. 17 Virginia (32-9, 11-7 ACC) takes to the road for its fourth Atlantic Coast Conference road series in April. The Cavaliers head to No. 11 Miami (26-13, 11-7 ACC) this weekend looking to move up in the ACC Coastal Division standings. The Hurricanes and Cavaliers currently are tied for second place in the division and sit one game back of divisional leader North Carolina (12-6). UVa will send its same rotation of LHP Sean Doolittle (6-1, 2.15 ERA), RHP Jacob Thompson (7-1, 2.57 ERA) and LHP Mike Ballard (6-2, 2.30 ERA) to the mound.
SCOUTING #11 MIAMI
The Hurricanes (26-13, 11-7) are fresh off a series win at in-state and ACC rival Florida State. Miami won game one, 7-3, but fell in the second game of the series, 16-1. The Hurricanes won the rubber game, 7-5. Second baseman Jemile Weeks had six hits in the series and third baseman Danny Valencia drove in six runs. Catcher Eddy Rodriguez leads the team while hitting .346 with nine doubles and six home runs for 23 RBIs. First baseman Yonder Alonso has driven in 47 runs on 43 base hits. As a team, Miami hits .301 and has a 3.70 team ERA.
SERIES VS. MIAMI
Miami leads the all-time series with Virginia, 9-4. The Hurricanes have won the last two series. UVa is 2-4 against Miami under head coach Brian O’Connor. All three games of the 2005 series were one-run games as Miami won the first two, 7-6, 1-0, and UVa won the finale, 4-3, in Charlottesville.
HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia ranks in the Top 25 in college baseball polls for the fifth straight week. The Cavaliers are No. 17 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll for the second straight week. UVa moved up three spots in the Collegiate Baseball Poll coming in at No. 18. UVa is 18th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (NCBWA) Poll. SEBaseball.com has UVa as the 18th best team in the nation, while the Hoos are 16th in the Rosenblattreport.com poll. Seven Atlantic Coast Conference teams are again ranked this week in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll while eight ACC teams are in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia improved to 32-9 on the season after shutting out VMI, 5-0, Tuesday. The Cavaliers are 11-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which puts UVa in a tie for second place in the Coastal Division. UVa is one of four teams in the ACC with 30 or more wins … Freshman right-hander Andrew Carraway struck out a career-high nine batters in his first career start and sophomore lefty Pat McAnaney recorded his first career saves in the 5-0 win over VMI … Senior lefty Mike Ballard tossed a no-hitter in the series finale against Boston College in 5-0 win Sunday. It was Virginia’s first no-hitter since 1974 … Virginia registered its second sweep in ACC action this season after winning three against BC. Third-year head coach Brian O’Connor has now swept 17 of the 33 series he has coached in at Virginia including 10 ACC series sweeps … Virginia’s pitching staff posted a 0.67 ERA in three games against Boston College. UVa pitchers struck out 15 batters in 27 innings while holding BC to a .167 batting average … Ballard tossed the sixth shutout of the season for the UVa pitching staff and first solo shutout by a pitcher. The other five were combined shutouts. It was also Ballard’s second complete game of the season and third of his career … UVa hit .295 in the series … Virginia leads the ACC in team ERA (2.45) and ranks second team batting (.331) … Virginia enters the weekend series as one of only two teams in the nation ranked in the Top 10 in the national statistics in both team ERA and batting average. UVa is second nationally in team ERA (2.51) and 10th in batting average (.334) batting average … The no-hitter was the first that third-year head coach Brian O’Connor has ever been a part of as a coach or college player … UVa pitching coach Karl Kuhn coached his second no-hitter and caught one as a player in college. Last, UVa hit .318 … Virginia’s pitching staff is holding opponents to a .209 batting average … UVa pitchers have struck out 357 batters in 367 innings … Five different Cavaliers have at least 50 hits while two others have at least 40 hits … Virginia also has five players with at least 30 RBIs … Eight of the 13 pitchers used by UVa have opponent batting averages under the team avg .209 including all three weekend starters (Sean Doolittle, .194; Jacob Thompson, .203; Mike Ballard, .207).
HOO NOTES
– Senior lefty Mike Ballard tossed a complete game no-hitter in finishing off a three-game sweep by the Cavaliers of Boston College in a 5-0 win. It is believed to be Virginia’s first no-hitter since the 1966 season. He finished with three strikeouts, walked two and hit one of the 31 batters he faced. Ballard retired 17 straight batters in the first 5 2/3 innings before allowing a baserunner in the sixth. It was Ballard’s second complete game of the season and third of his career.
– Senior Utility Tom Hagan drove in six runs in the BC series while going 3-for-9.
– Junior center fielder Tim Henry hit .412 last week going 7-for-17 with 2 RBIs and 3 Runs at the plate in helping UVa to a 4-0 week and ACC series sweep of Boston College. He slugged .647 and had a .500 on-base percentage. Henry extended his hitting streak to 10 games.
– Junior outfielder Brandon Marsh hit .353 (6-for-17) on the week with two runs and two RBI. He continues to lead the team hitting .421 (53-for-126) with 31 runs scored, 19 RBI and 12 extra-base hits.
– Sophomore third baseman Patrick Wingfield finished the week hitting .667 (6-for-9). He had two runs scored, two RBI and two doubles to go along with three multiple-hit games.
– Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer also added a 6-for-15 performance in four wins last week. Guyer scored a team-high five runs, added two doubles and two RBI.
– Sophomore pitcher/first baseman Sean Doolittle hit his first home run of the season in the 5-4 Saturday win over Boston College. Doolittle started game one of the series and picked up his sixth win of the season as he held BC to no earned runs through seven innings on six hits in an 8-3 win.
– Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson ran his record to 7-1 after picking up the win over Boston College in the second game of the series. Thompson held the Eagles to one earned run in five innings and struck out six.
– Junior closer Casey Lambert picked up two saves last week. He saved games against Longwood and the second game of the BC series. Lambert now has six saves.
– Sophomore relief pitcher Michael Schwimer made his team-high 21st appearance in Saturday’s win over BC. Schwimer appeared in three games last week. He was credited with the win over Longwood.
– Freshman right-hander Andrew Carraway struck out a career-high nine batters in six innings in first collegiate start against VMI Tuesday. Carraway is now 1-0 with 0.86 ERA. He has 25 K’s in 21 innings.
TOP 10 CAVS
Virginia is one of only two teams in the nation ranked in the top 10 nationally in team pitching and team batting average. UVa started the week ranked second nationally in team ERA (2.51 ERA) and 10th nationally in team batting average (.334). The Cavaliers bring a 2.45 team ERA and .331 team batting average into the Miami series. The College of Charleston is the other team ranked in the top 10 in both. The Cougars are fifth nationally in batting average (.341) and eighth in team ERA (2.94). UVa and College of Charleston met earlier in the season with the Cougars prevailing, 7-6, in a 17-inning affair in Charleston, S.C.
CAVALIERS IN THE ACC
Virginia moved into a second place tie with Miami in the ACC Coastal Division. North Carolina leads the Coastal Division at 12-6 while Georgia Tech is fourth at 10-8. Florida State and NC State are tied for first in the ACC Atlantic Division at 13-5 while Clemson is third at 10-5 and Wake Forest is fourth at 12-6. The top two from each division will earn the top four seeds in the 2006 ACC Tournament.
BALLARD NAMED ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK/LOUISVILLE SLUGGER NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK/NCBWA PRO-LINE NATIONAL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Senior lefty Mike Ballard was tabbed Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week announced by the league office, a Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA Pro-line National Pitcher of the Week. Ballard tossed a complete-game no-hitter as Virginia shut out Boston College, 5-0, in the series finale on Sunday to give the Cavaliers the series sweep. The senior southpaw registered three strikeouts, two walks and a hit-by-pitch as he allowed just four base runners of the 31 batters he faced. Ballard retired 17 straight batters in the first 5.2 innings before allowing a base runner in the sixth. It was Ballard’s second complete game of the season and third of his career. With earning the NCBWA Pro-line National Pitcher of the Week honor, Ballard automatically is named to the watch list for the Roger Clemens Award, given to the national collegiate pitcher of the year, sponsored by the Greater Houston Baseball Organization. He also was tabbed the Rosenblattreport.com National Pitcher of the Week and was named to the College Baseball Foundation National Honor Roll.
BALLARD’S NO-NO FIRST IN 32 YEARS
Mike Ballard’s no-hitter actually was the first by a Cavalier since the 1974 season. Barry Hollar pitched a no-hitter on Mar. 27, 1974 in a 4-1 UVa win over Mansfield State. Ned Turnbull tossed the last shutout no-hitter on Apr. 22, 1966 in a 4-0 win over NC State.
BACK-T0-BACK SHUTOUTS FOR UVA PITCHERSVirginia registered consecutive shutouts for the first time since last season. The 5-0 shutouts of Boston College and VMI in the last two games eclipse the mark set by the 2005 pitching staff. UVa shut out Old Dominion, 8-0, on Feb. 23, 2005 and Fordham, 5-0, on Feb. 26, 2005.
I KEEP ON WALKIN’
Sophomore first baseman/pitcher Sean Doolittle and senior utility Tom Hagan rank among the top in the Atlantic Coast Conference in walks. Doolittle is second in the league in total overall walks having drawn 39 in 41 games. Hagan has walked 24 times. Doolittle has a .441 on-base percentage while Hagan has posted a .485 on-base percentage. As a team, UVa has managed to walk 180 times in 41 games, which puts them fifth in the ACC.
O’CONNOR’S PRESENT IS 1-0
Virginia will open its series with #11 Miami Friday looking to give head coach Brian O’Connor his second birthday win in three seasons. O’Connor turns, 35, Friday. Virginia is 1-0 on O’Connor’s Birthday. The Cavaliers defeated Virginia Tech, 21-10, in 2004. After O’Connor celebrated his 34th birthday last season, the Cavaliers swept a home series against fourth-ranked Georgia Tech.
TWO-OUT HITS, RBIS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Virginia has adopted a saying that two-out hits wins championships. Of Virginia’s 472 hits, 150 have come with two outs, which is 32 percent. The Cavaliers are even better with two-out RBIs. Of the Cavaliers’ 298 RBIs, 108 have come with two outs, which is 36 percent of the Cavs RBI total.