Following a walk-off win against Coastal Carolina last night, Virginia baseball coach Brian O'Connor gushed about how there is something unquestionably special about his ball club.
"You have the kind of record that we have because you have good players ... but you also have to have something special about you," O'Connor said. "We showed again tonight that we have a special quality that separates us."
The No. 1 Cavaliers (33-3), who tout the best record in the nation, were very close to dropping only their fourth game of the season Wednesday night - just one day after the squad had added to its win total with a 4-0 victory against Georgetown. Virginia trailed 7-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning against a perennially strong Coastal Carolina team (21-12), but never once did the team panic.
"We haven't panicked all year - that's something that this ball club doesn't do," junior third baseman Steven Proscia said. "We like adversity, [and] we handle it well."
Facing adversity during the final frame of the contest, sophomore center fielder Reed Gragnani slapped a leadoff single before sophomore designated hitter Colin Harrington chopped a grounder up the middle to put two Virginia runners on base. Junior second baseman Keith Werman became the third batter to reach base after the infielder garnered a walk to load the bases with no outs. The Chanticleers gave up another walk one batter later as sophomore shortstop Chris Taylor barely checked his swing on a 2-2 count before taking a low payoff pitch to score the runner from third.\nWith Coastal Carolina's lead cut in half, senior left fielder John Barr stepped up to the plate and fisted a ball to right field to allow the trying run to score. Werman also attempted to cross home plate, but junior right fielder Daniel Bowman gunned the second baseman for an out. After allowing the runners to advance to second and third on a wild pitch, the Chanticleers forced junior catcher John Hicks to hit a comebacker to the mound to record the second out of the inning.
But Proscia made sure that those lost opportunities did not hurt the Cavaliers' chances for victory. With two away, the junior lined the ball to right-center to plate the game-winning run.
"I've been seeing the ball pretty well," Proscia said. "I knew what I had to do and went out and did it."
Proscia's walk-off knock erased memories of the lead that Virginia had blown earlier in the game. The Cavaliers held a 5-1 advantage after four innings, but Coastal Carolina slowly chipped away at the lead by scoring twice during the fifth frame and once during the sixth. The team scored again against junior pitcher Scott Silverstein during the seventh, and O'Connor seemingly went to pull his reliever. But instead, the coach allowed the lefty to face Bowman at the plate. The right-handed batter made O'Connor pay for the decision with a double to the wall that tied the game at five apiece.\n"Scott needed to pitch," O'Connor. "If we're going to count on [our bullpen] at the end of the year to help decide our season, then we certainly should count on them right now. He just didn't make the pitch that we needed to make."
Virginia looked poised to return the favor in the eighth, as the team loaded up the bases with one out. But the next Cavalier batter grounded into a double play to leave the team empty-handed.\n"A lot of teams - when you have that opportunity like we had in the eighth to take the lead, and you don't do it - a lot of teams would be just deflated," O'Connor said. "Our team doesn't do that. We play with emotion but we're not emotional when things go our way."
The Cavaliers also easily could have been deflated after the team's typically lockdown sophomore closer, Branden Kline, allowed two runs during the ninth. Coastal Carolina led off with a single that ricocheted off Kline's ankle to Taylor before the next hitter tomahawked a double just fair down the first base line to take a 6-5 lead. Bowman added another run with a bloop hit.
"Think about scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth, after you give up the lead in the top of the ninth with a closer who's been the man all year long," O'Connor said. "Our offense rallied and found away against a really good pitcher. It doesn't surprise me because of what they've showed me all year, but it is truly impressive."
Proscia overcame the Chanticleers' momentum last night and also was the star of Tuesday's game against the Hoyas. The third baseman drilled a three-run home run in the fourth inning, giving the Cavaliers a 4-0 lead that proved decisive.
Proscia's "really locked in right now, I think he's swinging a great bat," O'Connor said. "At the plate, the guy's an RBI machine."
Proscia's teammate, junior pitcher Will Roberts, seemed equally locked in as he worked five more scoreless innings Tuesday before rain cut the game short. Roberts has not yielded a run since March 16, and the Cavaliers have lost only one game since March 20.
"This club's has been amazing through this point in the season," O'Connor said. "They just have a never say die attitude, [and] they always feel like they have a fighting chance"
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