Cavalier Baseball Up to Program-Best No. 5 in Latest Polls
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May 22, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – – The Virginia Baseball team jumped up to No. 5 as the Cavaliers entered their 10th week in college baseball polls earning the program’s highest ever ranking. The Cavaliers are ranked as high as No. 5 in both the National Collegiate Baseball Writer’s Association Poll and the USA Today Coaches’ Poll. UVa is No. 7 in the latest Baseball America Poll and No. 8 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. The Hoos are 6th 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.
Virginia enters this week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament 45-11 and completed a 21-9 ACC season after sweeping Virginia Tech. The 45 overall wins and 21 conference wins are both school records. The Cavaliers went 4-0 last week after winning a thrilling 11-10 come-from-behind victory at Old Dominion Tuesday, and taking down in-state foe Virginia Tech. Virginia continues to lead the nation in team ERA (2.65). The Cavaliers have won 21 of their last 24 games. Virginia continues to lead the ACC in team ERA (2.63) and ranks second in the league in team batting (.326) … The Cavaliers have also set a school record for hits in a single-season with 632 heading into postseason play. The 1985 team had 626 hits … Virginia’s pitching staff is holding opponents to a .225 batting average … UVa pitchers have struck out 475 batters in 502.1 innings … Two Cavaliers have at least 70 hits. Four others have at least 60 hits while two others have at least 45 hits … Virginia also has two players with 50 RBIs and five others with at least 30 RBIs … Six of the 13 pitchers used by UVa have opponent batting averages under the team avg .225 … 39 percent of the Cavaliers’ RBIs have come with two outs. Virginia is hitting .319 with two outs having driven in 152 runs with two outs. All nine starters have at least 10 RBIs with two outs. … The Cavs won 8 of their 10 conference series in 2006 … Third-year UVa head coach Brian O’Connor is 130-46 overall and 53-29 in the ACC.
No. 3 seed Virginia begins play in the 2006 ACC Tournament Wednesday against No. 6 seed Florida State at 10 a.m. The game can be heard locally on WINA 1070 AM or via the internet at www.virginiasports.com. A live web cast of all games can be accessed through www.theacc.com.