The Honor Committee approved the reinstatement of the single sanction ad hoc committee and approved changes to open committee meeting procedure during last night’s meeting.

Carlos Oronce, Minority Rights Coalition member and former Asian Student Union president, encouraged the Committee to approve the single sanction ad hoc committee.

“Supporting the reinstatement is not a statement for or against the single sanction,” he said. “It is a statement that ensures student self-governance and that all voices will be heard.”

Committee Chair Jess Huang said the new Committee is “dedicated and concerned to provide an open [ad hoc] committee discussing the single sanction.”

The Committee reached a consensus supporting the ad hoc committee during a goal-setting meeting last Monday, Huang said, noting Graduate Arts & Sciences Rep. Adam Trusner will be chair of the ad hoc committee.Committee members also discussed changing the name of this committee but voted to use the previous name.

Vice Chair for Investigations Blaire Hawkins noted the importance of the decision because members of the University community associate the single sanction ad hoc committee with the purpose of addressing single sanction issues, and a new name may confuse students.

During last night’s meeting, the Committee also agreed to change meeting procedure.

According to the proposal, each meeting will have “School Representative Reports” during which representatives from University schools will brief the Committee on activities within their schools.

“We really believe different schools have different needs,” Huang said. “And we want to make sure representatives are representing their schools.”

The changes also will allow for the Committee to give feedback, she noted.

Education School Rep. Julie Caruccio agreed with Huang’s sentiments and supported the proposal.

“The reason we are doing this is because some of the smaller schools, beyond the College, have a place on the table,” Caruccio said. “We want to make sure all our work is transparent, particularly the work representatives do.”

Caruccio added that she felt the proposal held school representatives accountable.

Two University students received a jump-start this weekend toward their planned political careers, as third-year College students Grayson Lambert and Sarah Buckley received the first annual Senator John W. Warner Public Leadership Awards.

Named after Warner, a 1953 graduate of the University Law School and a five-term member of the U.S. Senate, the award is given to third-year students who exhibit a serious commitment to seeking election to public office in the future.

Politics Prof. Larry Sabato, chair of the selection committee, said the award was offered for the first time this year to honor Warner’s long and productive career in the U.S. Senate and as former secretary of the Navy upon his retirement.

“The idea is to encourage bright, able University of Virginia students to consider running [for public office],” he said. “There is a cash award, currently of $2,000 each, and it’s a bipartisan award.”

One of the awards went to a Democrat, Sabato said, and one went to a Republican, to honor the bipartisan nature of Warner’s career.

“He is a Republican but has been supported by Democrats,” Sabato said.

Sabato also noted this is not meant to discourage independent or third-party students from applying in the future.

Buckley is a political philosophy, policy and law major from Richmond, who has been highly involved in politics at the University, as president of University Democrats and chair of the council of presidents of Virginia Young Democrats.

The application consisted of an essay and a recommendation, Buckley explained.

The essay was about “why public service is important to me, and what kind of issues are important to me and how public service is a good mechanism to solve them,” she said.

Lambert is a foreign affairs major from Columbia, S.C.who has been involved in the University community in a number of ways.

“I am vice chair for trials of the [University] Judiciary Committee,” he said. “I’m involved with the Jefferson Society and [Reformed University Fellowship].”

Both recipients also mentioned having experience as volunteers in political campaigns.

Buckley said receiving the award this year was especially exciting, because she and Lambert are the first recipients.

Lambert noted he was “very honored to receive [the award] because Senator Warner has a very distinguished track record.”

Sabato noted that although he could not reveal the discussions of the selection committee, the recipients were chosen from among many exceptional applicants because they were “particularly outstanding.”

Following extensive media coverage of controversial comments made by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama last week about rural Americans, experts anticipate Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. will fare well in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, slated for April 22.

The senator from Illinois last week described small-town voters as people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them … as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Politics Prof. Larry Sabato noted that if Clinton “wins [Pennsylvania] by a wide margin, then she has capitalized on Obama’s unfortunate comments about bitter rural voters.”

Sabato also noted that if Clinton, who is expected to win in Pennsylvania, were to lose the primary election, she would be out of the race.

University Democrats President Sarah Buckley, who said she does not endorse either candidate, said if Clinton wins the Pennsylvania primary, as political pundits expect, it will not give her the necessary advantage to seize the Democratic nomination.

“Winning Pennsylvania might give her an edge in convincing superdelegates to vote for her,” Buckley said. “But it’s nearly impossible for the pledged delegates there to make any difference.”

With regard to Obama’s comment about rural voters, Buckley said she doubts that it will have a long-term effect on Obama’s campaign after the Pennsylvania primary.

“By the time we reach the general election, I think it will be forgotten as a whole,” Buckley said.

Sabato, on the other hand, disagreed.

“This was a serious gaffe by Obama, as even his own people privately agree,” Sabato said. “If he’s the nominee, it will cause him heartburn in the general election.”

While Democrats wait to see the results of the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, College Republicans Chairman Savanna Rutherford said the close Democratic race has allowed Republicans, already decided on Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to move forward.

“We’re waiting on the Democratic Party to decide who their nominee will be,” Rutherford said. “It’s giving McCain a chance to get his campaign started while the Democrats are fighting amongst themselves.”

Because it is taking more time for the Democrats to secure their nominee, Buckley said she is concerned about whether divisions within the party will affect voters in the election.

“I’m afraid people are becoming too radicalized for the candidate they support,” Buckley said. “It might have an effect on whether supporters for Clinton will support Obama [in the general election], and whether supporters for Obama will support Clinton.”

Both Rutherford and Buckley said they expect enthusiasm for the election to rise as the election gets closer, though Buckley said there has been “some fatigue” following the continuous Democratic nomination process.

Sabato, however, said the results of student and young voter involvement can only be seen after the election.

“The proof is in the November pudding,” Sabato said. “We’ll see how many young people vote in the general election; every indication we have suggests they are especially interested in this election cycle.”

As many high school seniors contemplate their options for higher education at the end of an arduous college application process, for some, the real work has just begun. Amid a tightening credit market, many student lenders have stopped issuing federally backed loans, creating uncertainty for students seeking loans.

While media reports have indicated that as many as 50 student lenders have stopped issuing federally backed loans, Department of Education spokesperson Samara Yudof said 25 lenders have stopped or suspended issuing such loans as of April 4.

“Every time we learn about a lender pulling out, we contact the schools that may be affected, but every school we’ve contacted has indicated that they’d be able to find another lender,” Yudof said. “We want to make sure that students have loans and the … financial aid to go to college.”

Yudof could not say how many schools the Department of Education had contacted, but said the department did not know of any student who could not obtain loans.

Yet lenders’ decisions to stop granting loans has prompted legislation in the House and Senate to provide alternative funding for students and careful consideration by the Department of Education of a “lender of last resort” program, from which students struggling to acquire loans from banks and lenders would receive such funding from the guarantee agency.

University Chief Financial Officer Yoke San Reynolds said federal officials are concentrating on this problem precisely because it affects need-based loans.

“I think that Congress is focused on the federally backed loans because those are need-based loans,” Reynolds said. “Private loans are not need-based loans … Parents and students can borrow money [elsewhere] even if there is no need.”

Reynolds said the effects of the trend remain to be seen.

“I think there is going to be an impact,” Reynolds said. “It’s too soon to say what it is — the credit market is still in flux. It all started with subprime mortgages on real estate and has gone to different parts of the capital market. We haven’t seen the end of it yet. [This credit trend] had just started to touch the student loan area, and we really don’t know how that’s all going to shake out.”

Furthermore, Reynolds added, reception and enactment of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ proposal for an emergency lending program could determine whether students need to look to private lenders.

University Financial Aid Director Yvonne Hubbard said the Department of Education’s efforts both to ensure the funding provided as backup by the guarantee agency and to prepare for potential enactment of the “lender of last resort” plan are evidence that federally backed loans are in good shape.

“There are so many safeguards in place, we think those loans will be available,” Hubbard said. “It’s the private loans market that concerns us.”

Hubbard explained that while students will always take out available guaranteed student loans because they are cheaper, one can only borrow so much through the guaranteed student loan program. As a result, students seeking private loans to complement what they receive through the guarantee program or from their parents will find such loans to be more costly and require a cosigner, which will be especially problematic for students with poor credit histories, Hubbard said.

“Part of the congressional bills to prevent disruptions in students loans is [an] increase [in] the amount students can get through the guaranteed student loan programs so they don’t have to turn to private loans as they have in the past,” Hubbard said. “I really hope this [measure] passes.”

The turmoil in the student loan industry comes at a time of transition for the University, as its contract with its sole preferred lender, Bank of America, expires in October. The University has been soliciting bids from banks and will have at least three preferred lenders rather than one by next fall, Reynolds said. The new contracts will be in compliance with 2007 congressional legislation that schools use at least three preferred lenders, Reynolds explained. Eligible incoming first-year students will receive financial aid through the current Bank of America contract.

The University participates in the federal government’s Federal Family Education Loan Program and not the Direct Loan Program, Reynolds said, because the latter program was “not a good deal for students.”

“We still have some direct loans in our portfolio, but those are from students who took out those loans before we discontinued the program,” Reynolds said.

Hubbard said the University deals with about $7 million in private loans for undergraduates and $26 million in federally backed subsidized and unsubsidized loans, including Perkins loans, for both parents and students.

While lenders have caused concern among some lawmakers and students finalizing plans for higher education, Reynolds predicted that the trend will not significantly complicate financial aid bargaining for students and families.

“We have a formula that’s based on need; we will package that formula for financial aid into grants, loans and work study,” Reynolds said. “As far as the University is concerned, we will give the same amount of grants. On the loan side, we are providing a conduit so students can borrow through the banks the amount students can borrow for need-based aid. As long as students can get the loans from some source, I don’t see that it will affect the total financial aid.”

Saturday night’s record-breaking crowd of 8,000 began its exodus from Klöckner Stadium in the middle of the fourth quarter as the Duke men’s lacrosse team prepared to hand Virginia a 19-9 defeat, the Cavaliers’ worst home loss in 21 years.

Having battled back to tie the game 9-all in the middle of the third, No. 3 Virginia (10-2, 1-2 ACC) appeared stunned by the Blue Devils’ subsequent 10-goal spurt. After the game, Virginia coach Dom Starsia highlighted several areas where No. 2 Duke (12-1, 3-0 ACC) excelled.

“They are so good with the ball on the ground,” Starsia said. “I really felt like that’s where the game was won and lost, with the ball on the ground. Also, they were just so slick around the cage, and defensively we weren’t as smart as we needed to be throughout the game. They took advantage of every unsettled opportunity.”

From the first face-off, the game was one of shifting momentum. Duke scored just 16 seconds in and then proceeded to quickly score two more for a total of three goals in the first five minutes.

While initially the Blue Devils appeared to be running circles around Virginia, the Cavaliers settled down midway through the first period and slowly chipped away at Duke’s lead. Early in the second, senior attackman Ben Rubeor tied the game four all.

Virginia never took the lead, however, and by halftime, four quick goals by the Blue Devils — including three by senior attackman Max Quinzani — sent them into the locker room ahead 8-4.

In the second half, the Cavaliers battled back as five different Virginia players — sophomore Brian Carroll, junior Steve Giannone, seniors Peter Lamade and Will Barrow and junior Garrett Billings – scored to tie the game at 9-all.

“At that point I turned around to the other coaches and said ‘Boy I don’t know about this one,’” Duke coach John Danowski said. “They had the momentum and the huge crowd and they had us on our heels, there is no doubt about that.”

The momentum shifted yet again, though, and stayed with Duke for the remainder of the contest. The night ended with Virginia suffering its first nighttime loss at Klöckner ever.?

Saturday night’s defeat drops Virginia to the third seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament behind Duke and Maryland. North Carolina rounds out the conference with the fourth seed.

Saturday’s loss was particularly hard for Lamade. Having graduated last May from Duke, he chose to play at Virginia while pursuing a graduate degree in education. Last week, Lamade said he thought the game would be a weird experience, and Saturday he confirmed it was as strange as he had anticipated.

Duke senior Nick O’Hara, a good friend of Lamade, spent the majority of the game covering the Cavalier midfielder, and Lamade said O’Hara heckled him good-naturedly the whole time.

“The whole game my buddies were staying stuff to me, but that is to be expected — it was all good-natured because I did not leave on any bad blood,” Lamade said. “This is the worst we have lost all year, and that’s really why the loss hurts — not the fact that I was beaten by all my friends.”

For years, many Cavalier fans have been hoping the Virginia football team would diversify its offense and throw the ball more regularly. If the spring game was any indication, the fans will be receiving their wish this season.

Of the 86 plays run during the game, 70 of them were passing plays. Part of the reason for this is that coach Al Groh wants rising senior running back Cedric Peerman and fellow backfield member rising junior Mikell Simpson to rest up for the season; however, there is also a three-way competition for the starting quarterback job, and Groh wanted to see how each contender performed, though he downplayed the number of passes thrown.

“What we really did was run our offense and hope the quarterback threw to the guy who was open,” Groh said. “It’s not a complicated deal in terms of [the quarterbacks] throw the ball to the guy that is open. Clearly more of those guys were open.”

Rising senior quarterback Scott Deke found a lot of those guys who were open today. In a somewhat surprising performance, Deke completed 17 of 23 pass attempts for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

“Its always fun to go out there, throw touchdowns and move the offense along,” Deke said. “People went out there and did their thing. The defense did well, Marc [Verica] went out there and did well; it was a good day.”

There was speculation as to whether Deke would come back for his fifth year of eligibility, but Groh clearly wanted Deke to be a member of the team this season.

“He wouldn’t have brought me back if he wouldn’t give me an opportunity,” Deke said. “When he had our meeting he said that he doesn’t like to bring people back unless they are going to have a consistent chance of maybe earning some playing time.”

Deke got the starting nod because of an unconventional selection method by Groh.

“All we did was let the quarterbacks choose a number between one and 50,” Groh said. “Whoever got the number that we had in our head, he got to start, and then we had the next two choose a number in-between one and 20 and whoever got closest to that number, he got to go second.”

Rising sophomore quarterback Marc Verica guessed the closest the second time around and got to go into the game after Deke. Verica had a solid day, completing 17 of 25 passes for 110 yards and a touchdown. Verica downplayed the quarterback competition and focused on the long-term goals of the season.

“We’re not really caught up with who’s going to be the starter right now,” Verica said. “We’re just focused on our job and what we can do to move this team forward.”

Highly touted rising sophomore quarterback Peter Lalich went into the game third and did not perform as well as the other two quarterbacks, throwing three interceptions. Regardless of the interceptions, Lalich said he is moving on from the game.

“Those things don’t matter to the team right now,” Lalich said. “This is the spring, and we have a long way to go.”

Overall, Groh said he was pleased with the performance of the three quarterbacks.

“It was a positive day for the quarterbacks,” Groh said. “They made good decisions. Each one in his own time made some good throws.”

Another significant aspect of the spring game was the announcement of the recipients of the Rock Weir Awards, which go to the most improved players during spring drills. The recipients were rising senior tight end John Phillips, rising redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Landon Bradley and rising sophomore linebacker Denzel Burrell. Phillips noted the improvement he and the others made this spring.

“I think I did really well this spring,” Phillips said. “I think a lot of guys got better, and that’s what its all about: getting better every day.”

The 2008 team captains were also announced during the spring game. Phillips, Peerman, rising senior linebacker Clint Sintim and rising junior cornerback Vic Hall were given the honor. Phillips noted how much this distinction meant to him.

“I feel very honored that my teammates selected me,” Phillips said. “I’m grateful that they decided to vote [for] me.”

Overall, while Groh deemed the game as a positive step for the 2008 season, he noted the challenges that lie ahead for the fall.

“We play a team [in Southern California] that, really in the decade of 2000, is in a league of its own to start the season,” Groh said. “All four of our non-conference teams played in the postseason last year. We lose the best player in all of college football [defensive end Chris Long]. That counts for more than one player. So we understand what we are facing.”

After a recent failed attempt to attain their program’s 400th win against Georgetown, the No. 4 Cavaliers’? new game plan paid off, allowing Virginia to knock off No. 16 Johns Hopkins at Klöckner Stadium Sunday and to reach the milestone.

The 17-6 victory also marked Virginia coach Julie Myers’ 100th win as a Cavalier coach and elevated Virginia to 11-3 (4-1 ACC).

Having played three straight slow-paced matches dictated by the opposing defenses, Virginia came into this game looking to get and capitalize on fast-break opportunities. This plan, instituted by Myers, worked like a charm.

With nearly seven minutes elapsed in the first half?, the Cavalier offense netted four goals in a 63-second span, all on quick-scoring chances, to take a six-goal lead. All four goals were scored by different players, as the Cavaliers found open teammates and made the most of their chances.

“I think our team did a great job in transition in particular,” Myers said. “I think the way that Hopkins traps, if you’re able to get through those first two levels of the trap, you have some wide-open opportunities on the fast-break. Our girls did a great job of really nailing those opportunities.”

Junior midfielder Ashley McCulloch, who leads the Virginia offense in both points and assists on the season, contributed an assist? and five goals of her own. McCulloch was quick to divert the attention from herself toward the game plan and her teammates.

“I think today one of the things we wanted to focus on was our fast breaks and not settling it in attack,” McCulloch said of the squad’s mentality for the game. “I think on fast breaks we were open and really took it to them.”

McCulloch was just one of many players to find the scoring column for the Cavaliers on the day. The Cavaliers got off to a 9-0 start before Hopkins (6-7, 0-1 American Lacrosse Conference) netted its first goal with eight minutes remaining in the first half. The Blue Jays were able to score twice more before the half finished?, and Virginia led 10-3 at halftime. That small flurry of goals wasn’t enough to gain momentum though, as the Cavaliers scored 7 more in the second half, to Hopkins’ 3.

After a tough loss to Georgetown last week, Virginia needed to come out fast and gain the upper hand. The team did that not only with its fast-scoring offense, but a strong defense.

“It’s huge — the fact that we came out really strong and scored 9 goals unanswered,” senior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty said of her defense and the win. “It was just huge to come out off our last game where we were flat and play strong and stick it to them. The fact that our defense could hold them off every time that they came down and every time they tried to score and keep the momentum going was huge.”

McBrearty was clearly excited about her team’s performance, which she exhibited in goal and during the final three minutes of the game while she stood watching from the sidelines. Junior goalkeeper Sara Hairfield came in and made two tough saves in those final three minutes.

“When I was a first-year I was on the sideline, and being a goalie, I know I just scream about everything,” McBrearty said of her enthusiasm. “When I come out, I try to sustain that and just encourage everybody because they’re getting their time to shine, and you want to be positive.”

McBrearty added that she loves to watch Hairfield play.

“She’s great,” McBrearty said. “She’s such a hard worker and to go in and make those two saves, it was huge.”

The Virginia squad also celebrated this win because it achieved a program milestone: The win marked the 400th in the history of Virginia women’s lacrosse as well as Myers’ 100th win as a coach in Charlottesville.

The Virginia softball team finished its last home series on a sour note this weekend, being swept by North Carolina 11-2, 6-1 and 7-1.

“UNC is a great team; they’re No. 1 in the conference for a reason,” senior outfielder Meghan O’Leary said. “They come out and play hard every inning and every at-bat.”

The series started inauspiciously for the Cavaliers (13-31, 4-11 ACC) when ACC leader North Carolina (40-8-1, 13-1 ACC) scored six runs in six hits and one walk off pitcher senior Whitney Holstun in the first inning Saturday before freshman Allee Rife replaced Holstun. The Tar Heels added to their lead with four more runs in the third before Virginia got on the scoreboard with a home run from junior Sarah Tacke. A second run in the fourth did little to abate the Tar Heel onslaught, and the game ended 11-2 after the fifth inning? behind a solid performance from Tar Heel junior pitcher Lisa Norris, who had five strikeouts and allowed only five hits in five innings.

Though the Tar Heels pitchers out-threw the Virginia staff throughout the series, the Cavaliers fared better during the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, finishing all seven innings and holding the Tar Heels to two runs in the first three innings and six overall for the five-run loss. While North Carolina junior Amber Johnson pitched the entire game and allowed the Cavaliers only five hits and one run, Virginia junior starting pitcher Karla Wilburn gave up eight hits and five runs in four innings, and Holstun finished the game with a five-hit, one-run effort.

Freshman Alison Pittman scored the Cavaliers’ only run in the sixth on a North Carolina fielding error.

Virginia started Wilburn on the mound Sunday and brought Holstun in relief, achieving a similar result, a 1-7 loss. The two pitchers gave up a combined 12 hits and four walks for seven runs. North Carolina sophomore Danielle Spaulding outclassed Wilburn and Holstun with a 14-strikeout, complete-game effort, holding the Cavaliers to only one hit and adding to the Tar Heels’ lead with a homer in the seventh.

The only hit the Cavaliers managed in the third game of the series yesterday was? a home run by junior shortstop Carly Winger.

Offensively, the Tar Heels out-hit the Cavaliers by a factor of at least two to one throughout the series. North Carolina’s 12 hits in game one yielded 11 runs while Virginia’s five hits generated only two.

The bright spot of the weekend was the Cavaliers’ defense, which had four errors total throughout the series.

Despite their defensive performance, the Cavaliers’ pitching and hitting could not compete with the Tar Heels’.

“Defensively we did OK,” O’Leary said. “But we didn’t put up the hits that we needed to.”

Yesterday’s game also marked the last time that seniors Holstun, O’ Leary and Lindsey Preuss, as well as junior Kierstie Cameron, will play at The Park.

“I’m very proud to have coached them,” coach Eileen Schmidt said. “When you look at that group, they’re your typical U.Va. hard-working kids that really have bright, bright futures in front of them.”

O’Leary said she was happy with the performance of the Cavaliers this season.

“I can close the door on this and walk away and kind of be satisfied,” O’Leary said.

The Cavaliers have eight more games in the season including two ACC conference series against Maryland and Boston College.

O’Leary noted that the final two ACC teams are definitely ones the Cavaliers can beat.

“It’s been a tough weekend and it’s a weekend that we need to put behind us,” O’Leary said.

Without a midweek game coming up, Schmidt said the Cavaliers will spend the next six days reviewing the basics and looking to upcoming games.

“With these two weeks left we’re just going to dig our heels in and go to work,” she said.

College Park, Md. — After a couple of shaky midweek games last week, Virginia baseball coach Brian O’Connor said his team was in need of a “defining moment” at some point this season.

If Virginia’s first road-series win, a weekend sweep against Maryland? that included two come-from-behind wins Friday and Saturday, wasn’t season-defining, it was at least a lift for a struggling offense.

The Cavaliers (29-9, 11-7 ACC) combined for 34 hits and four home runs in the sweep of the Terrapins (20-17, 5-13 ACC),? winning 11-6 Friday, 5-4 Saturday and 11-4 Sunday.

“This was big for our team just to all prove to each other that we can win a series on the road,” O’Connor said. “I was happy with how we swung the bats this weekend.”

The opening night of the series offered a particularly momentous sequence of events for Virginia. The game began with junior starting pitcher Jacob Thompson’s second consecutive poor outing, as Maryland pounded the 2007 first-team All-American for six earned runs in five-plus innings on its way to a 6-4 lead.

Sophomore pitcher Neal Davis entered in the sixth, however, and quietly kept Virginia in the game with three-plus shutout innings. On perhaps the biggest play of the night in the bottom of the seventh, Davis got out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam with a rare 5-2-3 double play by sophomore third basemen Tyler Cannon to end the inning.

Cannon “could have stepped on third, he could have thrown the ball to second, but you can’t give up another run,” O’Connor said. “He made a good decision on throwing the ball home.”

Cannon’s double play set the stage for an offensive explosion by Virginia in the eighth. Freshman Dan Grovatt slugged his way out of a recent slump with a man-on-first, one-out double to the warning track in left field. Junior Jeremy Farrell followed with an RBI line-drive single to right and stole second on an errant throw from Maryland senior catcher Chad Durakis, allowing Grovatt to score.

Freshman right fielder David Coleman followed with a walk. Then, freshman catcher Franco Valdes — who had one of his best nights, going 2-5 and playing stellar defense behind the plate — showed athleticism unbecoming of a 5-foot-10, 205-pound catcher. On a 1-1 pitch, Valdes showed bunt, then pulled the bat back and shot a line drive through the right side to load the bases and keep the rally going.

“That’s the first time I’ve done that in the season,” Valdes said, adding with a laugh that assistant coach Kevin McMullan “gave me the sign, and I was like, ‘Uh oh … all right, let’s do this!’”

Senior Patrick Wingfield then grounded out to score another run, and freshman John Barr? legged out an infield single to score one more. Valdes completed his trip around the bases on a wild pitch, and junior Greg Miclat brought in Barr for the sixth and final run of the inning with a single to left before Cannon struck out to end the inning.

All in all, the Cavaliers faced three Maryland pitchers in the eighth, thrashing them for six runs on six hits. Virginia tacked on one more run in the top of the ninth, and senior Michael Schwimer closed out the Terrapins in the bottom, completing the Cavaliers’ biggest comeback since May 12, 2006.

“Your All-American [Thompson] goes out there and he doesn’t have his stuff, and our guys didn’t quit; they didn’t feel sorry for themselves,” O’Connor said. “They met adversity like big dogs.”

Game two of the series provided no less drama. Senior Pat McAnaney was brilliant for six of his seven-plus innings, as he allowed no hits and struck out seven during that stretch; however, he had a hiccup in the second when he allowed back-to-back singles and his first home run of the year to junior Mike Moss.

Virginia was again unable to provide early offense and fell into an early 0-3 hole after two innings; Farrell had an opportunity in the first to give Virginia an early lead with the bases loaded and one out, but the senior was punched out looking on a 2-2 pitch, and Coleman followed with a ground-out to keep the Cavaliers scoreless.

Farrell, however, would get his revenge in the fifth? on Maryland’s most costly mistake of the series. The senior stepped in with Virginia trailing 2-3 with runners on second and third and got ahead in the count 3-1. With a base open and three sub-.300 hitters to follow Farrell –? the team leader in home runs, with six going into Saturday –? a pitch out of the strike zone to walk the bases loaded appeared to be in order. Sophomore right-hander Ian Schwalenberg instead offered a fastball that caught the middle of the plate, and Farrell uncoiled. The ball went out of Shipley Field as fast as it came in, towering over the left-field fence and easily clearing the 400-foot label on the building behind it, giving Virginia a 5-3 lead.

“I’m glad that they did [give him a pitch to hit] with a base open,” O’Connor said, smiling about the home run pitch to Farrell. “The kid made the pitch, and Farrell took a great swing.”

In the eighth, sophomore Matt Packer entered and earned an out of similar importance to Davis’ double play ball the night before. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Packer struck out junior Will Greenberg, looking for an enormous first out. Though the ground ball out that followed scored one before a line out ended the inning, it was the initial strikeout that sent Virginia into the ninth with the lead.

“If [Greenberg] puts the ball in play on the right side, they score a run, they move the runner, now the next guy hits a fly ball, all of a sudden the game’s tied, and it’s a different story,” O’Connor said. “That was a huge, huge strikeout.”

The Sunday game had an entirely different storyline but ended the same, as Virginia got off to an early lead and never looked back in the 11-4 blowout. Junior starting pitcher Andrew Carraway pitched seven strong innings and allowed just one run to improve to 3-2 on the year, and the Cavaliers got a season-high three home runs from Cannon, Grovatt and Adams.

Virginia returns to Davenport Field Tuesday for the first of a six-game homestand against No. 24 Coastal Carolina.