/
.
#9 UVa Baseball Hosts #1 UNC in ACC Coastal Division Showdown
Story Links
May 11, 2006
Games #50-52
#9 Virginia (39-10, 16-8 ACC) vs. #1 North Carolina (40-9, 18-6 ACC
Davenport Field at UVa Baseball Stadium
Charlottesville, Va.
Fri. May 12, 7 p.m.
Virginia – LHP Sean Doolittle (8-1, 1.99 ERA)
UNC – LHP Andrew Miller (10-0, 1.91 ERA)
Gametracker 1
Sat. May 13, 1 p.m.
Virginia – RHP Jacob Thompson (9-1, 2.39 ERA)
UNC – RHP Robert Woodard (5-1, 3.21 ERA)
Gametracker 2
Sun. May 14, 1 p.m.
Virginia – LHP Mike Ballard (6-2, 3.01 ERA
UNC – RHP Daniel Bard (6-2, 3.69 ERA)
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
All three games can be heard locally on WINA 1070 AM or via the internet at www.virginiasports.com. Saturday’s game will be televised live on the Regional Sports Network by Fox Sports Net South.
#9 VIRGINIA HOSTS #1 NORTH CAROLINA IN KEY ACC SERIES
No. 9 Virginia (39-10, 16-8 ACC) plays its first Atlantic Coast Conference home series since April when the Cavaliers host No. 1 North Carolina (40-9, 18-6 ACC) Fri.-Sun. at Davenport Field in a key ACC Coastal Division match-up. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday night and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All three games can be heard locally on WINA 1070 AM or via the internet at www.virginiasports.com. Saturday’s game will be televised on the Regional Sports Network by Fox Sports Net South. UNC holds a two-game lead over UVa in the coastal division standings. In its last outing, Virginia defeated Mount St. Mary’s, 6-3, at home 10 days ago before taking time off for final exams. The Cavaliers lead the nation and the ACC in team ERA (2.56) while the team is 14th nationally in team batting avg. (.328). UVa will send its same rotation of LHP Sean Doolittle (8-1, 1.99 ERA), RHP Jacob Thompson (9-1, 2.39 ERA) and LHP Mike Ballard (6-2, 3.01 ERA) to the mound.
SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
The Tar Heels are tied for the most wins in the nation with Rice. UNC had a nine-game winning streak snapped at home by Winthrop Wednesday night, 12-8. UNC has won five straight ACC series including three straight series sweeps of Virginia Tech, NC State and Duke. UNC brings the third best pitching staff in the ACC and the seventh best in the nation into the series. Junior lefty Andrew Miller is 10-0 with a 1.91 ERA with 78 K’s in 75.1 innings. His weekend counterparts are RHP Robert Woodard (5-1, 3.21 ERA) and RHP Daniel Bard (6-2, 3.69 ERA). UNC has the top hitter in the league in Josh Horton who leads the ACC hitting .395 with 75 hits. He has 42 RBIs. Catcher Benji Johnson leads the team with 11 home runs. UNC enters the series hitting .320 as a team.
SERIES VS. NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina leads the all-time series with Virginia, 164-89-4. The teams played their first game in 1891. The Tar Heels have won the last two series. UNC swept in Chapel Hill last season and won two of three games in Charlottesville in 2004.
HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia ranks in the Top 25 in college baseball polls for the eighth straight week. Virginia is No. 9 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association (NCBWA) Poll. UVa is No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll, No. 12 in Collegiate Baseball and 13th in Baseball America. 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 39-10 on the season after going 1-0 last week and taking the weekend off for final exams. The Cavaliers are 16-8 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and sit in second place in the Coastal Division. Virginia has won 15 of its last 17 games including winning three ACC road series in the month of April. The 39 wins are tied for the third-most in the nation with Elon, while UNC and Rice lead the nation with 40 wins each. In its only game last week, Brandon Guyer hit a walk-off three-run home run to lift UVa to a 6-3 win over Mount St. Mary’s. Virginia is 26-2 at home heading into this weekend’s home series with UNC. Virginia leads the nation in team ERA (2.56). Sophomore outfielder Brandon Guyer went 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the win over Mount St. Mary’s. He hit his team-leading sixth home run … Virginia continues to lead the ACC in team ERA (2.56) and ranks second in the league in team batting (.328). The Cavaliers are one of only two teams in the nation ranked in the Top 15 in the national statistics in both team ERA and batting average … Virginia’s pitching staff is holding opponents to a .217 batting average … UVa pitchers have struck out 427 batters in 439.1 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 … 39 percent of the Cavaliers’ RBIs have come with two outs. Virginia is hitting .325 with two outs having driven in 139 runs with two outs. Eight starters have at least 10 RBIs with two outs. 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 in 2006. The last time Virginia won three ACC road series was in 2004 … Third-year UVa head coach Brian O’Connor ran his career record to 124-45 overall and 48-28 in the ACC.
HOO NOTES
– Sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle and senior lefty Mike Ballard are on the ballot for the Roger Clemens Award, honoring the top pitcher in college baseball. Doolittle is 8-1 with a 1.99 ERA with 83 K’s in 68 innings while holding opponents to a .181 batting avg. Ballard is 6-2 with a 3.01 ERA. He has 52 K’s in 71.2 innings. Doolittle is also on the Wallace Watch List. Doolittle and freshman second baseman David Adams are also both listed on the watch list for the Dick Howser Trophy.
– Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer went 3-for-5 including a walk-off three-run home run to lift Virginia to a 6-3 win over Mount St. Mary’s. In his last four games, he has hit .556 (10-for-18) with four runs, two home runs and six RBIs. Six of his 10 hits were extra-base hits. He’s had at least three hits in three of his last four games. On the season, Guyer is hitting .342 with team-highs in RBIs (50), hits (69) and extra-base hits (27). He now has 69 hits including 17 doubles, four triples and six home runs.
– Freshman second baseman David Adams has hit .500 in his five. Adams is tied for the team-lead with 50 runs scored.- Sean Doolittle has gone 6-for-15 with six RBIs and three extra-base hits in his last four games. Doolittle has two home runs in his last two ACC series. He now has three homers on the season.
– Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson ran his record to 9-1 after picking up an 8-0 shutout win at Maryland. Thompson had six strikeouts in seven innings and scattered five hits. He moved into a tie for third place all-time in single-season wins.
– Sophomore reliever Michael Schwimer made his team-leading 27th appearance against Mount St. Mary’s. Schwimer needs six appearances to set a new single-season record. He is 3-1 with a 2.40 ERA including 47 K’s in 48.2 innings while boasting a .192 opponent batting avg.
HAGAN NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Senior utility Tom Hagan has been named to the Cosida District 3 All-Academic team. Hagan has a 3.21 grade point average in Systems Engineering. He currently ranks second on the team hitting .375 with 63 hits and 36 RBIs. He leads the Cavaliers with a .471 on-base percentage.
CAVS IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS
Virginia leads the nation in team ERA (2.56 ERA), opponent batting avg. (.217) and shutouts (9). UVa is second in runs allowed (161) and earned runs allowed (125). The Cavaliers are fifth in winning percentage (.796), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (8.8), 14th in batting avg. (.328) and 18th in scoring (8.0 rpg). Individually, Sean Doolittle is 10th in drawing walks (45, 0.92 per game) while Beau Seabury is 10th in sacrifice hits (13).Freshman pitcher Jacob Thompson is tied for 11th in victories (9).
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 18-6. Wake Forest is second at 15-8 while Florida State is third at 14-9. NC State is fourth at 14-10.
CAVS CLINCH ACC TOURNAMENT SPOT
Virginia is one of eight teams to have clinched a spot in the 2006 ACC Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, May 24-28. Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Miami, Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State and NC State have all clinched a spot with six league games remaining for most of the teams in the ACC. North Carolina and Clemson are the divisional leaders heading into the weekend.
TWO-OUT HITS, RBIS WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Virginia has adopted a saying that two-out hits win championships. Of Virginia’s 566 hits, 192 have come with two outs, which is 34 percent. The Cavaliers are even better with two-out RBIs. Of the Cavaliers’ 354 RBIs, 139 have come with two outs, which is 39 percent of the Cavs’ RBI total.
HOME SWEET HOME
Virginia has won 26 of its last 27 home games and is 26-2 this season at Davenport Field. UVa lost their home opener to Old Dominion, 5-1, but settled down to win 16 in a row before falling to Wake Forest in the second game of their series. UVa is hitting .352 as a team at Davenport Field. The Cavs have scored 255 runs on 340 hits with 76 extra-base hits. UVa’s pitching staff is holding the opposition to a .185 batting average while opponents have scored 60 runs, 44 earned, in 248 innings (1.60 ERA). The Cavs have 255 K’s in the 248 innings.
MIDDLE INNING SHUTDOWN
Virginia pitchers lately tend to get into a groove in the middle innings of games. UVa pitchers have allowed a total of 67 runs from the 3rd-6th innings. Between the third and sixth innings, the Cavaliers have outscored opponents, 205-67. On the season, UVa has outscored its opponents, 393-161.