#11 Virginia "Turns Back the Clock" Against Mount St. Mary's

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May 2, 2006

Game 49
#11 VIRGINIA (38-10)vs. Mount St. Mary’s (19-20)May 2, 2006
Davenport Field
Charlottesville, Va.
Tues. May 2, 7 p.m.
Virginia – RHP Shooter Hunt (0-0, 3.29 ERA)
Mount – RHP Andrew Germuth (1-2, 6.00 ERA)
Gametracker

#11 VIRGINIA TURNS BACK THE CLOCK AGAINST MOUNT ST. MARY’S
No. 11 Virginia returns home to face Mount St. Mary’s Tuesday at 7 p.m. before taking 10 days off for final exams. Tuesday night’s game is “Turn Back the Clock” night at Davenport Field. Admission is $1 and the Cavaliers will sport a throw-back look. Virginia is coming off a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference sweep at Maryland last weekend. Freshman right-hander Shooter Hunt (0-0, 3.29 ERA) will make his second straight mid-week start for the Cavaliers. UVa continues to lead the ACC in team ERA (2.57) and ranks second in team batting average (.329).

SCOUTING MOUNT ST. MARY’S
The Mountaineers (19-20) are fresh off a three-game sweep of St. Francis (NY), 9-0, 6-1 and 19-6 over the weekend. Freshman Matt Staso went 10-for-11 (.909) with 10 RBI in the Mount’s three-game sweep of St. Francis (N.Y.) this past weekend. Staso entered the series 4-for-19 (.211) on the season. Third baseman Matt Eiden has posted a .436 average in 17 NEC games this season. Eiden, who is hitting .458 over the past eight games, leads the Mount with a .387 average on the season. Sophomore Josh Vittek has provided the power to the Mount offense this year. Vittek is hitting .333 on the year and leads the Mount in runs (24), hits (44), doubles (16), RBI (32), slugging percentage (.568) and walks (14).

SERIES VS. MOUNT ST. MARY’S
This will be the first ever meeting between Virginia and Mount St. Mary’s on the diamond.

HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia ranks in the Top 15 in college baseball polls for the seventh straight week. UVa is No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball, 13th in Baseball America and 11th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association Poll (NCBWA). SEBaseball.com has UVa as the 12th best team in the nation while the Hoos are 13th in the Rosenblattreport.com poll.

ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia improved to 38-10 on the season after going 4-0 last week. The Cavaliers moved to 16-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, which puts UVa in sole possession of second place in the Coastal Division …The Cavaliers have won 14 of their last 16 games and won three ACC road series in the month of April. Virginia swept a three-game ACC series at Maryland over the weekend, 6-0, 8-0 and 7-5. Sean Doolittle struck out a career-high 13 in game one to register his eighth win of the season while three UVa pitchers combined for a season-high 16 K’s and UVa’s eighth shutout. In game two, Jacob Thompson won his 9th game and Brandon Guyer was 4-for-4 with an RBI as the Cavs recorded its 9th shutout in an 8-0 win. In the series finale, Jeremy Farrell launched a three-run homer in the fifth which was the difference in a 7-5 win … Virginia’s pitching staff posted a 1.67 ERA in the Maryland series allowing five runs on 21 hits. UVa pitchers struck out 29 in 27 innings … Virginia out-hit Maryland, .303-.221 … The Cavaliers hit four home runs in the series and had 12 extra-base hits in the series … Virginia had a string of 23 scoreless innings snapped in the bottom of the third of the series finale, when Maryland scored its first run of the series … The Cavaliers posted back-to-back shutouts for the second time this season and shut out an ACC opponent in back-to-back games for the first time in program history … Sophomore outfielder Brandon Guyer hit .538 (7-for-13) in the series with three doubles, a home run and two runs for three RBI. He has three home runs in his last two ACC series … David Adams finished the series 6-for-12 with five runs and three RBIs … Sophomore Sean Doolittle drove in six runs in the Maryland series as he finished 5-for-11 with three runs, two doubles and a home run … Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson won his ninth game of the season, which puts him in a tie for third place for wins in a single-season all-time … Doolittle’s 13 strikeouts were a career-high giving him 83 K’s in 68 innings in 2006. He is holding opponents to a .181 batting avg. He is now 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA … The 16 ACC wins are the second-most all-time. UVa registered 18 conference wins in Brian O’Connor’s first season in 2004 … O’Connor has now swept 18 of the 35 three-game series he has coached in at UVa … The Cavs have won 6 of their 8 conference series. The last time Virginia won three ACC road series was in 2004. … Virginia continues to lead the ACC in team ERA (2.57) and ranks second in the league in team batting (.329). The Cavaliers entered last week as one of only three teams in the nation ranked in the Top 15 in the national statistics in both team ERA and batting average. UVa was 2nd nationally in team ERA and 12th in batting average … Virginia’s pitching staff is holding opponents to a .217 batting average … UVa pitchers have struck out 418 batters in 430.1 innings … Four different Cavaliers have at least 60 hits while three others have at least 50 hits … Virginia also has three players with at least 40 RBIs and two others with at least 30 RBIs … Six of the 13 pitchers used by UVa have opponent batting averages under the team avg .217 … 40 percent of the Cavaliers RBIs have come with two outs. Virginia is hitting .325 with two outs having driven in 138 runs with two outs. Eight starters have at least 10 RBIs with two outs … Third-year UVa head coach Brian O’Connor ran his career record to 123-45 overall and 48-28 in the ACC.

HOO NOTES
– Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer hit .444 last week going 8-for-18 with 3 RBIs, a home run and 4 runs scored at the plate in helping UVa to a 4-0 week and an ACC series sweep at Maryland. He slugged .778 and had a .474 on-base percentage. In the series at Maryland, he hit .538 (7-for-13) with two runs and three RBI including his fifth home run of the season. Four of his seven hits were extra-base hits while he concluded the week with two multiple-hit games. His best game came in the 8-0 shutout at Maryland in game two which clinched the series for the Cavaliers. He went 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI. In the series finale, he was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. On the season, Guyer is hitting .335 with team-highs in RBIs (47) and extra-base hits (25). He now has 66 hits including 16 doubles, four triples and five home runs.
– Freshman second baseman David Adams hit .500 last week going 7-for-14 with seven runs and three RBIs. Adams leads the team with 50 runs scored.
– Freshman shortstop Greg Miclat also had a good week as he went 7-for-17 with four runs.
– Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson ran his record to 9-1 after picking up the win an 8-0 shutout win at Maryland. Thompson had six strikeouts in seven innings and scattered five hits. He moved into third place all-time in single-season wins.
– Freshman right-hander Andrew Carraway won his second career game in a 7-5 win over Maryland. Carraway pitched two scoreless innings and picked up two strikeouts.
– Junior lefty Casey Lambert registered his seventh save of the season in the win against Maryland in the series finale. Lambert now has 29 career saves.
– Sophomore reliever Michael Schwimer made his team-leading 26th appearance against Maryland. Schwimer picked up his third win of the season in an 8-3 win against Richmond earlier last week. He is 3-1 with a 2.35 ERA including 44 K’s in 46 innings while boasting a .191 opponent batting avg.

DOOLITTLE NAMED ACC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Virginia sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle was tabbed Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week Monday. Doolittle joins teammates Casey Lambert (Mar. 20) and Mike Ballard (Apr. 17) as Cavaliers who have earned the honor this season. Doolittle (8-1) recorded a career-high 13 strikeouts in 6.1 innings in picking up his eighth win of the season in a 6-0 shutout at Maryland. He no-hit the Terrapins through 5.1 innings and retired the first 17 batters he faced. He struck out the side three times and had a string of eight consecutive strikeouts. It was also the fourth time this season that he had at least nine strikeouts and the second time for double digit strikeouts. Doolittle has 22 K’s in his last two starts. Offensively, the Tabernacle, N.J. native finished the series 5-for-11 with two doubles, a home run and six RBIs. On the season, the sophomore southpaw is 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA while holding opponents to a .181 batting average. He now has 83’Ks in 68 innings.

TOP 10 CAVS
Virginia enters the week ranked second nationally in team ERA (2.57 ERA), opponent batting avg. (.217) and strikeouts (418). The Cavaliers lead the nation in shutouts (9). Offensively, UVa is fifth nationally in total hits (555) and seventh in on-base percentage (.416).

CAVALIERS IN THE ACC
Virginia took over sole possession of second place in the ACC Coastal Division. UVa is 16-8 which is two games back of division leader North Carolina (18-6). Georgia Tech and Miami are tied for third at 14-10. Clemson leads the ACC Atlantic Division at 15-6. Wake Forest is second at 14-7 while Florida State is third at 13-8. NC State is fourth at 14-10. Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State and NC State have all clinched a spot in the 2006 ACC Baseball Tournamet at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, May 24-28.

TWO-OUT HITS, RBIS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Virginia has adopted a saying that two-out hits win championships. Of Virginia’s 555 hits, 188 have come with two outs, which is 34 percent. The Cavaliers are even better with two-out RBIs. Of the Cavaliers’ 348 RBIs, 138 have come with two outs, which is 40 percent of the Cavs RBI total.

IT COULD HAPPEN
With eight regular season games left and the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament approaching, the 2006 Virginia team is closing in on school team records. Through 48 games, Virginia has 387 runs, 555 hits, 348 RBIs and 90 stolen bases. The Cavaliers are close to school records in runs (467, 1985), hits (626, 1985), RBIs (411), and stolen bases (125).

HOME SWEET HOME
Virginia is 25-2 at Davenport Field with seven home games remaining on the schedule. Virginia is hitting .354 as a team at home with 329 hits and 226 RBIs. The Cavaliers are 60-of-67 in stolen base attempts. UVa’s pitching staff has a 1.58 home ERA while holding opponents to a .184 batting avg.

UP NEXT
Virginia takes 10 days off for final exams before hosting No. 1 North Carolina, May 12-14.