About halfway through Tuesday night's three-hour-and-43-minute walk-a-thon against James Madison, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor may have been tempted to put an end to the madness and turn to sophomore ace Danny Hultzen.
O'Connor waited an extra night - sort of. With only 42 at-bats under his belt in 16 games played this season, Hultzen made a rare appearance in yesterday evening's lineup in No. 4 Virginia's 12-2 victory against Radford (13-13). And the National Player of the Year candidate looked like the Hultzen of old at the plate - smooth, easy swing and all. Most importantly, he looked like the player who hit .327 last season in the three-hole, not the .220 hitter he had become when he entered the game against the Highlanders.
"Danny Hultzen was a great offensive performer for us last year," O'Connor said after the game. "He scuffled a little in the first half of the season, and I decided to plug him in there tonight because I think he's a key bat for us that we're gonna need in the back half of the year. Fortunately, he was able to get it going tonight."
Hultzen went 3-for-5 at the plate with three RBIs on the night, including two doubles that either landed in front of our bounced off the left-center field wall. His first came during the bottom of the first inning when he belted a mammoth shot over the center-fielder's head to send home junior left fielder Phil Gosselin and give Virginia (25-6) a 1-0 lead. Then in the third, after Gosselin got on base for the second time with a stand-up triple, Hultzen sent another slicing fly ball to the outfield, this time off the wall, blowing open a 6-0 lead.
Hultzen's production, coupled with a 2-for-4, three-RBI performance from ACC-hit leader Gosselin, who extended his hit-streak to 14 games, gave freshman pitcher Whit Mayberry all he would need in his first start of the season.
Mayberry entered the game with a 6.75 ERA in eight appearances and had given up five runs on five hits and three walks during his previous 2.1 innings of work. He left with his first career win and may have solidified his role in a deep Virginia rotation.
"[Pitching] coach [Karl] Kuhn felt like [Mayberry] needed to get out there and get us some innings, and Whit did a great job tonight," O'Connor said. "He was a tremendous starting performance, and obviously he'll get more opportunities because of it."
After sophomore starting pitcher Will Roberts lasted a mere 0.1 innings and the pitching staff as a whole issued 14 walks - to go along with 18 strikeouts - during Virginia's 9-4 victory against the Dukes, Mayberry was charged with a specific but difficult task: Throw strikes.
"When you have a starting pitcher go out there, they need to be in control of the game," O'Connor said. "And that is being able to control the strike zone and throw strikes, and not give away free passes."
The right-hander did exactly that through five innings of three-hit, one-walk baseball. He retired the first three batters he faced, first with a strikeout, and then let his defense back him up by forcing ground balls with 90 mile per hour heat and devastating curveballs.
"I was a little nervous starting out," Mayberry said. "But it's a lot of confidence - team like ours, you know everybody behind you is gonna make plays and put up a lot of runs."
Mayberry quickly shook off the nerves and handled his first jam of the evening to perfection during the top of the second. Senior left fielder Raphael Turner was the first Radford player to tag Mayberry when he hit a sharp single up the middle. After Turner stole second and advanced to third on a fly out, Mayberry induced a pop fly to center and a groundout to third to end the threat.\nHe suffered a slight scare during the top of the fourth when a hot liner off the bat of sophomore shortstop Brett Mollenhauer hit off his leg. Luckily for the Cavaliers, he was not injured on the play - and it did not hurt that sophomore third baseman Steven Proscia tracked down the ball and threw the runner out at first.
"I got hit hard a couple times - that was one of 'em, kind of left it over the plate," Mayberry said with a grin, adding that he appreciated Proscia's support. "It was real nice to have that."
The righty did eventually commit the cardinal sin when he surrendered a leadoff walk during the top of the fifth. A subsequent hit put Radford on the board, but Mayberry got out of the inning when he fielded a bunt and gunned down junior second baseman Alex Guerra at first.
"Whit's got good stuff - ever since the fall we knew he was gonna be a good pitcher for us," Gosselin said. "He came out, set the tone right away - fastballs for strikes, pounded the zone, definitely set the tone for the whole game and got our pitching staff going on the right foot after last night with a few too many walks."
Meanwhile, the Cavalier bats continued to heat up, extending the Virginia lead with six more runs. The Cavaliers compiled 16 total hits and reached base 25 times on the game. Junior right fielder Dan Grovatt punctuated the hitting frenzy with a line drive down the right field line during the bottom of the eighth. Radford freshman right fielder Cory Turner was slow to the ball, allowing junior outfielder Dave Coleman and freshman shortstop Stephen Bruno to score while Grovatt sprinted around the bases. The junior slid into third and then ran home after he saw the incoming throw fly over the third baseman's glove.
The bullpen finished the job for Virginia in a markedly better performance than the previous night as redshirt freshman Chad O'Connor, junior Tyler Wilson, freshman Branden Kline and senior Neal Davis allowed only two walks during four innings of relief.
The Cavaliers resume ACC play this weekend for a three-game series against No. 2 Georgia Tech at Davenport Field.
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