Flying high after a stunning sweep of No. 7 ranked Georgia Tech, the Virginia baseball team is ready to tangle with the No. 24 Florida State Seminoles but will have to deal with a different Tribe first. The Cavaliers play host to William & Mary tonight in an attempt to extend their winning streak to six games before heading down to Tallahassee Friday.
"Mid-week games are really important," junior Ryan Zimmerman said. "If we do what we need to do in the league and we win our mid-week games, we'll make the tournament. We press on that every week. You can't go out and take anyone for granted during the week because it will come back to bite you."
So far this season, Virginia (29-13, 9-10 ACC) has had no problem dispatching its mid-week opponents.
In 11 Tuesday and Wednesday games, the Cavaliers sport a 10-1 record. Even more impressive, Virginia is outscoring its opponents by a staggering 8.6 runs per game.
Predictably, the offense has been exceptional in these games, hitting .342 as a team. Zimmerman, the team's offensive leader all season, also has been automatic. The shortstop is hitting .474 in 38 at-bats, with 11 runs scored, 14 runs batted in and nine extra base hits, including two home runs in non-weekend games.
Aside from the obvious benefits to the win-loss record, performing well in mid-week games provides the team with confidence going into the weekend. With the Seminoles on the horizon, the William & Mary game affords the Cavaliers a great chance to continue building on the Georgia Tech sweep.
"If we take care of business in the middle of the week, we'll have great momentum," sophomore Casey Lambert said.
Indeed, Virginia's series with Florida State will be its final road series of the season and has the chance to launch the Cavaliers as high as fifth in the ACC standings.
Currently seventh in the conference, Virginia is only 1.5 games behind fifth-place Florida State and a single game behind N.C. State. With the Wolfpack hosting ACC-leader North Carolina, the Cavaliers have a realistic chance to leapfrog both teams in the standings.
As helpful as a successful series in Tallahassee would be, an off weekend could prove disastrous. Only half a game ahead of Wake Forest, Virginia would like to enter the final month of the season in control of its own destiny with regard to the seventh seed in the ACC Championship.
The Cavaliers, however, are focused on the task at hand, not on scoreboard-watching. A win over William & Mary Wednesday will set the team up beautifully going into the Florida State series.
The Tribe (21-19, 7-11 CAA) is 0-2 against ACC competition in two blowouts this season. Last season, Virginia traveled to Williamsburg and pulled off an 11-9 victory. The Cavaliers have not lost to William & Mary since 2001 and will look to extend their streak to four tonight.
"We're starting to have a tremendous amount of confidence, offensively and defensively, and hopefully this weekend we'll be able to carry that down," Lambert said.
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