After flipping the Terrapins Sunday in a 17-2 series-clinching win, the Virginia baseball team plays Stony Brook at home tonight and in New York tomorrow. Both games start at 6 p.m.
The Seawolves (12-11, 3-1 America East Conference), another midweek non-conference opponent, are coming off a dramatic, 10-inning 21-20 win against Vermont Sunday.
Since losing four straight to start the season, Stony Brook has gone 12-7 and has won seven of its last 10 games. Additionally, the Seawolves played the Cavaliers (26-5, 8-5 ACC) tough in both games of a doubleheader in Charlottesville last year but eventually fell in both, 3-0 and 6-4. Stony Brook held the upper hand in the second game with a 4-1 lead up until the eighth inning when Virginia scored five runs to surge ahead.
“We got to keep playing hard,” sophomore pitcher Tyler Wilson said. “We’ve got to keep carrying that momentum. You can’t take anybody lightly. I think Stony Brook kind of bit us last year, when they might have snuck one from us, so we’ve definitely got to take them seriously, build some momentum, keep the bats live and carry it into Georgia Tech [this weekend].”
Wilson picked up the win Sunday during his first weekend start of the year. He received a good deal of support from the Cavalier bats but was still impressive, giving up only two runs on six hits and striking out five.
“Wherever the team needs me to be, whether it be in the pen or starter, I’m happy to do whatever the team would like for me to do, and we have some great arms — [sophomore] Kevin Arico and [junior] Matt Packer — coming in [from the bullpen],” Wilson said.
Junior Neal Davis and freshmen Will Roberts, Sean Lucas and Justin Thompson all pitched an inning of relief Sunday. Each player gave a solid performance, giving up zero runs and only two hits total.
“Tyler had only thrown about 78 pitches, but I felt it was important to get those other guys work because we’re going to need those pitchers in the middle of the week and also on the weekends,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “So it’s important to get their feet wet and get them some experience, and I thought they all threw the ball well.”
During Saturday’s loss to Maryland, however, the bullpen could not back up the work of senior starter Andrew Carraway, as Arico and Packer gave up five runs total, allowing the Terrapins to capture the lead during a five-run eighth inning.
“There is [room for improvement in the bullpen],” O’Connor said. “Our bullpen needs to be more consistent. There’s no question about that. That’s not a knock on Kevin Arico or Matt Packer, because they didn’t get the job done yesterday; they’ve pitched so well so many times. But we’ve just got to be a little bit more consistent.”
One pitcher that could strengthen the bullpen is Davis.
“We’re trying to build [Davis] back up” from a shoulder injury, O’Connor said. “When we get him back to full strength, I think that will make a real difference in our bullpen because he’s done such a great job out of the bullpen in his first two years here.”
Whoever starts on the mound the next two nights for Virginia will have to contend with a Seawolf lineup that features seven players with averages greater than .300. Freshman catcher Pat Cantwell, who has started 12 games and appeared in 15, leads the team with a .405 average. Among regular starters, senior infielder Keith Fier, the only Seawolf to appear in all 23 games, bats a respectable .312. Senior outfielder Brian Witkowski headlines the power department with six homeruns; the Seawolves have belted 18 long balls total.
These numbers pale in comparison, though, to the Cavaliers’ offensive statistics — especially following the 17-run output against Maryland.
“You cannot control once the ball leaves your bat,” O’Connor said. “All you can control is the mindset that you have, and the approach and plan that you have when you go to the plate. Once it hits your bat, you can’t control it. And the key is though that they continue to square balls up and hit balls hard, and we’ve been doing that on a consistent basis.”
Stony Brook’s pitching staff holds a 7.47 team ERA and will have to contend with a Virginia lineup that has a team batting average of .364 and has knocked 29 balls out of the park.
O’Connor, however, is quick to acknowledge the nature of baseball, realizing that the statistics only say so much and every win takes a little bit of luck.
“Starting, especially [last] Tuesday at Radford, we’ve really swung the bats well, and if we continue to swing the bats like that, they’ll fall when they need to,” O’Connor said. “And in the sport of baseball, they don’t all the time, and when they don’t you have a tough time winning.”
Because of this, the Cavaliers are not taking the Seawolves lightly.
“Going into Stony Brook, we need to keep the game face ready to go and build some momentum going into Georgia Tech,” Wilson said. “We got a big weekend coming up. We need to look at Stony Brook and worry about them now before we start worrying about [Georgia Tech].”
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