#6 Cavaliers Head to Old Dominion Tuesday

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May 16, 2006

Game 53
#6 VIRGINIA (41-11)At OLD DOMINION (38-12)May 16, 2006
Bud Methany Baseball Complex
Norfolk, Va.

Tues. May 16, 7 p.m.
Virginia – RHP Shooter Hunt (0-0, 3.24 ERA)
ODU – LHP David Wagner (0-0, 3.72 ERA)
Gametracker 1

#6 VIRGINIA TRAVELS TO OLD DOMINION FOR FINAL NONCONFERENCE GAME
No. 6 Virginia hits the road for its final nonconference game of the season when the Cavaliers travel to take on Old Dominion at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Norfolk. UVa is coming off an Atlantic Coast Conference series win over top-ranked North Carolina at home. Virginia enters the week ranked as high as sixth in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association Poll. UVa ranks in the top 10 of all major college baseball polls. The Cavaliers will send freshman RHP Shooter Hunt (0-0, 3.24 ERA) to the mound for his third straight mid-week start.

SCOUTING OLD DOMINION
The Monarchs (38-12) dropped a conference series at UNC Wilmington over the weekend. ODU won the second game of the series, 6-5, in 11 innings. Left fielder Mike Zahm went 3-for-4 in the win. ODU is led by center fielder Jimmy Miles, who hits .353 with a team-high 83 hits including 17 doubles and 28 RBIs. Miles is 38-of-44 in stolen bases. Dana Arrowood (.349, 60 hits, 44 RBIs), Mike Zahm (.335, 69 hits, 40 RBIs) and Bryan Cipolla (.328, 63 hits, 45 RBIs) are the other top hitters. ODU hits .304 as a team with 41 home runs. The Monarchs will start sophomore LHP David Wagner (0-0, 3.72 ERA). The pitching staff has a 3.52 ERA.

SERIES VS. OLD DOMINION
Old Dominion and Virginia first met in 1979. The Monarchs lead the all-time series, 18-14-2. UVa is 1-3 against Old Dominion under Brian O’Connor. ODU won the first meeting this season in Charlottesville, 5-1.

LAST TIME AGAINST OLD DOMINION
Tom Hagan went 3-for-4 at the plate, but Old Dominion’s Kevin Gunter held Virginia to one run in a complete game effort as the Monarchs defeated the Cavaliers, 5-1, to ruin the 2006 home opener for the Cavaliers at Davenport Field at UVa Baseball Stadium. Sean Doolittle and Tim Henry each had two hits for the Wahoos in the loss. Gunter finished the game with five strikeouts while allowing one run on seven hits in nine innings. Belcher had two hits while Justin Gregula went 2-for-4 with two RBI including a two-run home run. Pat McAnaney suffered the loss allowing five runs on seven hits while striking out four batters in three innings. Robert Poutier and Shooter Hunt each pitched three scoreless innings with Hunt picking up four strikeouts.

HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia ranks in the Top 25 in college baseball polls for the ninth straight week. The Cavaliers are ranked as high as No. 6 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association Poll and moved up to No. 7 in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. UVa jumped four spots to No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll and to No. 9 in the Baseball America Poll. The Hoos are 8th 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 41-11 on the season after winning an Atlantic Coast Conference series over top-ranked North Carolina. The Cavaliers are 18-9 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and sit in second place in the Coastal Division, one game behind UNC. The 18 conference wins tie the school record set during the 2004 season … Virginia has won 17 of their last 20 games. In game one against UNC, Sean Doolittle tossed 6.2 scoreless innings while holding the Tar Heels to four hits for his ninth win of the season in a 4-1 UVa win. In game two, UNC’s Robert Woodard shut out the Cavs in a 5-0 UNC win. In game three, Doolittle drove in four runs while going 3-for-5 and Mike Ballard improved to 7-2 while striking out five in 6.1 innings for a 9-2 UVa win … In a series built around pitching, UVa allowed eight runs, seven earned, while UNC gave up 13 runs, 10 earned, as UVa posted a 2.33 ERA. The Tar Heels had a 3.60 ERA in the series … UVa out-hit UNC, .280-.270 in the series … Sean Doolittle hit .357 going 5-for-14 with a run and four RBIs … UVa’s weekend rotation of Sean Doolittle, Jacob Thompson and Mike Ballard combined to hold the Tar Heels to three runs on 17 hits in 20 innings while striking out 13 … Virginia committed one error in the series while Carolina had five … Virginia is now 28-3 at Davenport Field … UVa recorded its third straight 40-win season, which is a school record and matched its 2005 win total with its 41st win Sunday. The 41 wins are tied for the second-most in the nation … A weekend record of 7,367 fans packed into Davenport Field during the weekend series, which was an average of 2,456. UVa had record crowds of 2,624 Friday and Saturday. … Virginia continues to lead the nation in team ERA (2.55) … Virginia continues to lead the ACC in team ERA (2.55) and ranks second in the league in team batting (.326). The Cavaliers entered last week as 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 .220 batting average … UVa pitchers have struck out 443 batters in 466.1 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 % of the Cavaliers RBIs have come with two outs. Virginia is hitting .323 with two outs having driven in 145 runs with two outs. 202 of UVa’s 592 hits have also come with two outs. Eight starters have at least 10 RBIs with two outs … The Cavs have won 7 of their 9 conference series … Third-year UVa head coach Brian O’Connor ran his career record to 126-46 overall and 50-29 in the ACC. It was O’Connor’s first series win over UNC …

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 basesball. Doolittle is 9-1 with a 1.81 ERA with 88 K’s in 74.2 innings while opponents hit .181 against him. Ballard is 7-2 with a 3.00 ERA. He has 57 K’s in 78 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 LHP/First baseman Sean Doolittle (9-1) won his ninth game of the season as he tosses 6.2 scoreless innings in the 4-1 win over top-ranked North Carolina. He had five strikeouts. Doolittle now has 27 strikeouts in his last three ACC starts. He held to Tar Heels to four hits. Doolittle also hit .357 (5-for-14) in the series against the top-ranked Tar Heels. He drove in fours in the series finale to help UVa clinch the series with a 9-2 win. He finished 3-for-5 with the four RBIs. He has 11 hits and 10 RBIs in his last seven games. On the season, Doolittle is hitting .312 with the second-most RBIs (45) on the team. He has 58 hits, 41 Runs and 45 walks.
– Freshman second baseman David Adams finished 5-for-10 with two runs and an RBI. He slugged .600 and had a .643 on-base percentage.
– Junior catcher Beau Seabury produced his league-leading 14th sacrifice hit in the UNC series. Seabury is 10th nationally in the statistic.
– Sophomore reliever Michael Schwimer made his team-leading 30th appearance against North Carolina. Schwimer needs three appearances to set a new single-season record. He is 3-1 with a 2.58 ERA including 49 K’s in 52.1 innings while boasting a .199 opponent batting avg.
– Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer picked up his 70th hit. Guyer leads the team in hits, extra-base hits (27) and RBI (50). He’s hitting .337.
– Brandon Marsh and Tom Hagan continue to rank in the top six in the ACC in hitting. Marsh is batting a team-best .376 while Hagan is hitting .373.
– UVa has six players with at least 10 stolen bases as the Cavs are 96-of-122 in the category: Greg Miclat (17), Tom Hagan (17), Brandon Guyer (15), Brandon Marsh (1), Tim Henry (11), Mike Mitchell (11).

CAVS IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS?
Virginia leads the nation in team ERA (2.55 ERA), opponent batting avg. (.220) and shutouts (9). UVa is second in runs allowed (169) and earned runs allowed (132).

CAVALIERS IN THE ACC
Virginia remains in second place in the ACC Coastal Division after winning a series over UNC. UVa is 18-9 which is one game back of division leader North Carolina (19-8). Georgia Tech is third at 17-10 while Miami is fourth at 16-11. Clemson leads the ACC Atlantic Division at 21-6. Wake Forest is second at 16-10 while NC State is third at 15-11. Florida State is fourth at 14-12.

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.