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#3 Seed Virginia Opens ACC Tournament with #6 Seed FSU
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May 23, 2006
Game 57
2006 ACC TOURNAMENT
No. 3 VIRGINIA (45-11)
VS. No. 6 Florida State (39-17)
May 24-28, 2006
Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Fla.
Wed. May 24, 10 a.m.
Virginia – LHP Sean Doolittle (10-1, 1.90 ERA)
FSU – RHP Bryan Henry (9-2, 2.39 ERA)
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#3 SEED VIRGINIA OPENS ACC TOURNAMENT WITH #6 SEED FLORIDA STATE
No. 3 seed Virginia opens 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament play Wednesday when the Cavaliers face No. 6 seed Florida State in the tournament opener at 10 a.m. at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Fla. The Cavaliers secured the third seed after sweeping a three-game series from in-state foe Virginia Tech, 4-2, 6-0, 11-7, to cap off a perfect 4-0 record last week. Florida State took two of three games at home fromNC State in the final regular season weekend. The Cavaliers and Seminoles will meet for the first time this season as UVa and FSU missed each other on the 2006 ACC schedule due to the new league alignment.
VIRGINIA IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
The Cavaliers will be playing in their 33rd ACC Tournament and have a 34-57 all-time record in the tournament. Virginia won the title in 1996. The 2005 team advanced to the ACC Championship game before falling to Georgia Tech, 4-3. Virginia went 3-1 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville last season, before finishing as the runner-ups. Virginia is 2-2 all-time as a No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.
LAST TIME AT THE ACC TOURNAMENT
No. 7 seed Virginia knocked off three straight nationally ranked team to make a run to the 2005 ACC Championship game. UVa upset No. 2 seed Clemson, 8-1, in the opener, before knocking off No. 6 seed NC State, 12-2. The Cavaliers then defeated Clemson for the second time, 5-4, to advance to the championship game. Georgia Tech won the title over the Cavaliers, 4-3. Six Cavaliers were named to the all-tournament team: C Scott Headd, 2B Kyle Werman, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, OF Tom Hagan, U/DH Sean Doolittle and P Matt Avery.
HOOS IN THE POLLS
Virginia will rank in the Top 25 in college baseball polls for the 10th straight week. 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.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS
Virginia enters the 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 twoouts 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.
LAST TIME OUT FOR THE CAVS
The Cavaliers swept Virginia Tech to wrap up their regular season. In game one, Sean Doolittle registered his 10th win of the season while Casey Lambert earned his ninth save to lead No. 6 Virginia to a 4-2 win over Virginia Tech. In game two, freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson tossed a four-hit complete game shutout as No. 6 Virginia blanked Virginia Tech, 6-0. In the series finale, Sean Doolittle drove in five runs while going 2-for-4 including his fourth home run of the season and Mike Ballard won his eighth game as No. 6 Virginia completed the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series sweep of Virginia Tech, 11-7. Greg Miclat led Virginia going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Series Notes: Beau Seabury hit his second home run of the week for the Cavaliers, who tied the school record for wins in a single season. Virginia is now 44-11 and 20-9 in the ACC.Series Notes:Virginia won its school record 45th game and school record 21st conference game … The Cavs enter next week’s ACC Tournament as the No. 3 seed … UVa won its eighth conference series and head coach Brian O’Connor swept his 19th three-game series … Greg Miclat led UVa in the series going 5-for-11 with four runs while hitting .455. Beau Seabury and David Adams each had four RBIs in the series … Michael Schwimer made his school record 33rd appearance in Saturday’s game … UVa’s pitching staff posted 3.00 ERA and struck out 20 in 27 innings … Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson and sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle became the third and fourth pitchers in UVa history to win at least 10 games in a single-season. Thompson pitched a complete game four-hit shutout in the second game of the series and matched a career-high with eight strikeouts. Doolittle struck out six in six innings Thursday to move to 10-1 on the season. He now has 33 strikeouts in his last four starts … This past week, UVa hit .323 as a team led by Mike Mitchell (.500, 5-for-10, 4 Runs, 1 3B, 2 RBIs), Beau Seabury (.417, 5-for-12, 4 Runs, 1 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs), Sean Doolitle (.417, 5-for-12, 5 Runs, 2 2B, 1 HR,7 RBIs) and Greg Miclat (.375, 6-for-16, 6 Runs, 1 2B, 1 RBI).
HOO NOTES
– Sophomore lefty Sean Doolittle has struck out 33 batters in his last four starts including a career-high 13 at Maryland. Doolittle is 10-1 with a 1.90 ERA with 94 K’s in 80.2 innings while holding opponents to a .187 batting avg. He is one of 10 semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award, given to the nation’s top pitcher. Doolittle is also on the Wallace Watch List. Doolittle and freshman second baseman David Adams are also both listed onthe watch list for the Dick Howser Trophy. Offensively, Doolittle has 17 RBIs and 16 hits in his last 11 games.
– Junior catcher Beau Seabury hit his first two career home runs last week. Seabury’s first homer of the week started a three-run rally in the ninth to help UVa defeat Old Dominion, 11-10. Seabury hit his second home run of the week in the 6-0 shutout of Virginia Tech. Seabury hit .417 on the week going 5-for-12 with four runs, 1 double, two homers and five RBIs. He slugged 1.000.
– Freshman third baseman Jeremy Farrell went 3-for-5 with two RBIs in the win at Old Dominion. Farrell hasnine hits in his last nine games and nine RBIs.
– Freshman shortstop Greg Miclat brings a five-game hitting streak into the ACC Tournament. Miclat haseight hits in the last five games while scoring nine runs.
– Freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson lowered his ERA to 2.07 and is 10-2 on the season. He threw a complete-game four-hitter in blanking Virginia Tech in his last start.
– Sophomore reliever Michael Schwimer made his school record 33rd appearance in the Virginia Tech series finale.
– Junior closer Casey Lambert now has nine saves on the season, which gives him 31 career saves. Lambert owns the top three single-season records for saves at Virginia. He set a school record with 14 saves in 2005 and had eight saves in 2004. He is tied for fifth all-time in career saves in the ACC.
– Freshman second baseman David Adams drove in five runs last week in helping Virginia to the 4-0 week. Adams leads the team with 72 hits and is third in RBIs (47).
– Senior LHP Mike Ballard won his eighth game for the second straight year. Ballard is 8-2 with a 3.24 ERA and now has 18 career wins which puts him in a tie for eighth place all-time.
CAVALIERS WIN RECORD 45TH GAME
Virginia won its school record 45th game of the season in the series finale against Virginia Tech. The previous record of 44 wins was established by the 1996 team, which finished that season, 44-21. Brian O’Connor’s first team in 2004 was 44-15. In three years, O’Connor has guided all three of his teams to at least 40 wins, which also is a UVa record.
SCOUTING THE SEMINOLES
Florida State earned the No. 6 seed after winning a series at home over NC State, 11-10, 7-1, 7-15. The Seminoles used a walk-off bases loaded single from Dennis Guinn in the bottom of the 10th to win the series opener, 11-10. Tyler Chambliss limited the Wolfpack to one run on four hits to win game two of the series for the Seminoles. Florida ranked as high as No. 15 last week in national college baseball polls. FSU is led by center fielder Shane Robinson, who hits .352 with a team-high83 hits and 70 runs. He is 26-of-29 in stolen bases. Right-handers Bryan Henry and Tyler Chambliss are a combined 20-6. Chambliss is tied for the ACC lead in wins with 11. He has 99 K’s in 104.2 innings. Henry is 9-2 with 96 K’s in 101.2 innings. Closer Luke Tucker is 1-1 with a 1.35 ERA and eight saves.
THE LAST TIME UVA-FSU MET
Florida State won two of three games in the 2005 series in Tallahassee. Brandon Guyer went 2-for-3 in the series opener as UVa fell, 8-1. The Cavaliers bounced back to win the second game of the series, 6-2. Mike Ballard and Sean Doolittle combined to strike out 13 batters. Doolittle struck out eight in three innings to earn his second save of the season. FSU used a five-run seventh inning to win the rubber game, 7-2.
THE SERIES
Florida State leads the all-time series, 39-10, having won the last two series.
UVA-FSU IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT
Virginia and Florida State have met seven times in the ACC Tournament. FSU holds a 5-2 edge over the Cavaliers. FSU and UVa last met in the tournament in 2003 with FSU winning, 2-0.