Cavalier Baseball Preseason Ranked No. 10 by Collegiate Baseball

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Dec. 31, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – – Virginia will open the 2007 baseball campaign ranked No. 10 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper’s Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I preseason poll. The Cavaliers return eight position starters, their top two weekend pitchers and top two relief pitchers.

Four Atlantic Coast Conference teams are ranked in the top 10 with No. 2 Clemson, No. 5 North Carolina and No. 6 Miami joining the Cavaliers. College World Series participant Rice earned the No. 1 spot with No. 2 Clemson, No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 North Carolina rounding out the top five. No. 11 Georgia Tech and No. 13 Florida State give the ACC six of the nation’s top 13 teams.Junior first baseman/left-handed pitcher Sean Doolittle was named to the Louisville Slugger Preseason All-American first team. It is Doolittle’s second preseason All-American honor as he was named NCBWA preseason All-America as well as to the 2007 Roger Clemens Award Watch list and 2007 Brooks Wallace Award Watch list.

The Cavaliers finished the 2006 season with a school record 47 wins and 21 conference wins as UVa finished 47-15 and 21-9 in the ACC, which was third in the league. Virginia finished No. 14 in the final USA Today/Sports Weekly coaches poll. The Cavaliers ranked third nationally in team ERA (3.04) and 19th in team batting average (.322).

Besides Doolittle, the Cavaliers return All-ACC second team selections right-handed pitcher Jacob Thompson and outfielder Brandon Marsh. UVa also returns 2006 freshmen All-Americans shortstop Greg Miclat, second baseman David Adams, Thompson and third baseman Jeremy Farrell. Virginia also returns one of the nation’s best closers in Casey Lambert and reliever Michael Schwimer, who set a Virginia single season record for appearances (36).The Cavaliers open the 2007 season Feb. 9-11 at the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament hosted by Coastal Carolina.