It's the heat of summer as the Virginia baseball team readies for the most important series in program history, but the games begin well before the Cavaliers take the field against No. 1 LSU. Deep in the corridors of an Omaha, Neb. hotel is the charismatic Tyler Cannon, embroiled in a highly competitive game with his arch-nemesis, Neal Davis.
"Last year from the ACC Tournament on to Omaha we brought the game Risk," Cannon said with a wide grin on his face. "You ever play that one?"
Perhaps the senior shortstop's biggest gamble came well after the team's first-ever trip to the College World Series. Although he was selected in the 41st round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the graceful player with a last name befitting of an All-ACC caliber infielder decided to return for his senior season.
"[Cannon] made the decision that if it wasn't very, very substantial money last year, he said this, that he'd come back for his senior season," coach Brian O'Connor said. "Sometimes players change their mind, but he stayed committed to it."
Cannon said his love for the University, his teammates and coaching staff inspired his decision to forego a shot at the big leagues. But heck, he simply may have had some unfinished business with Davis or other adversaries to deal with.
"He loves games - X-Box, Spades, anything - he's after it," junior center fielder Jarrett Parker said. "He's a real fun-loving guy."
But this is not the first time the club house jokester, also known as "Can-Man," has made a serious, potentially life-altering decision. After hitting for a .252 average during his sophomore season as a right-handed hitter, Cannon and the coaching staff decided to go forth with a monumental change: Virginia's prized infielder would switch-hit during the upcoming season. Because the vast majority of pitchers on earth are right-handed, this decision meant Cannon would hit lefty for most of his at-bats. And although he said he had tinkered with it in high school and further experimented hitting from the right-side of the plate during the fall of his sophomore year, Cannon had never actually switch-hit in a real, meaningful game.
"I always knew it would probably benefit me down the road, so it was always in the back of my mind," Cannon said. "But last fall, my junior year, I really decided, let's give it a shot. Why not?"
The result was staggering. Cannon improved his batting average to .351 during his junior campaign - a robust 99-point increase from the previous season. The man with the golden glove suddenly had transformed into an offensive juggernaut.
Though his offensive production did not peak until last year, Cannon was penciled into the line-up for his defense from his first day at Virginia. He saw time at third base and shortstop his first year with the team, was the starting third baseman and even served time at catcher as a sophomore. And after O'Connor's dynamite shortstop, Greg Miclat, was drafted in 2008, Cannon made the permanent switch to the position.
"I'll tell ya, he's been an iron man for us," O'Connor said. "He's started at shortstop, third base, he's caught some - he's just a very, very good athlete."
In total, Cannon has played in nearly 97 percent of Virginia's games since he came to the University in 2007 and currently sits in seventh place in games played in program history. More importantly, as Cannon has progressed throughout his illustrious career, he has developed into the team's unmistakable leader - perhaps in part because of his constant presence on the field. As the lone senior in the Cavaliers' junior-dominated starting line-up, Cannon has served as a mentor to some of the team's best players.
"I remember one time last year when - N.C. State - and there was a delay, something like that," Parker, a 2009 All-American reminisced. "[Cannon] was on second base, and I was up to bat. And he was like, 'You're gonna hit me in.' I was like, 'What?' - 'You're just gonna hit me in.' I was like, 'All right.' I went up there, and I hit him in. He was like, 'I told you so.'"
Cannon's part-time partner up the middle, sophomore second baseman Keith Werman, had nothing but praise for the shortstop and his remarkable range.
"He's phenomenal in the infield - greatest hands I've ever seen," Werman said. "He'll turn a ball that goes in the hole, and he'll throw 'em out by two steps, and you're just like, 'Wow, how'd that happen?'"
And after bulking up during the offseason, adhering to what he called the "Jarrett Parker Workout Plan," Cannon has continued to trudge on during his senior campaign, both offensively and defensively. His performance during Tuesday's game against Marshall demonstrated Cannon's wide range of abilities and development into one of - if not the best - shortstops in college baseball. He smacked a double to center in the first inning, adding another notch to his belt in the Virginia baseball annals with the 53rd double of his career, tying the program record. His 4-for-4 day at the plate pushed his average up to a solid Ted Williams' .400. And his diving grab up the middle and subsequent flip to junior second baseman Phil Gosselin to turn a double play demonstrated why he was recently named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for the top shortstop in the nation and easily could have made SportsCenter's Top 10 plays. But Cannon has already reached that feat with an incredible play in last year's memorable run to Omaha.
Whether this year's squad makes another run at the title, Cannon is a lock to be drafted again - which leaves one more game for the Cavalier to play: Major League Baseball.
Ever played that one?
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